Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon B
by Phoenix
Summary: A new senshi and a new villain, the Eternal Night. When disaster threatens, Sailormoon returns!


======================================================================= This work is copyright Paul Roberts; if you would like to reproduce it or use it otherwise in any way, please send an email and your inquiry to phoenixxx@hotmail.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or use is prohibited; all characters pertaining to and including Sailormoon herself are copyright Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansya, and no infringement is intended. ======================================================================= 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***Around the jewel that is planet Earth revolved a tiny sphere, beneath anyone's notice and totally blending into the background, warping the light around it. It gave off an ominous aura, daring any who would be so bold or stupid to come near. At once, it began to emit a series of sounds unlike any other that had been experienced by the human range of senses; it had reached its point of activation. Once more, it would return...*** 

Pretty Soldiers Activate! A New Problem Arrives. 

It was a beautiful spring day, with clear skies and warm weather. The sun was shining like a golden treasure in the sky, presenting the Earth with its loving kindness, while the breeze carried a refreshing chill in it to cool off those who had been too long in the light. People walked in every direction, some faster than others, some slower, while Usagi Tsukino sat on a park bench and watched the fountain idly. She stared at the lovely cascading waters and the sparkles that they gave off, the back of her mind nagging her that something was missing from her life. Something certainly was; she had bidden farewell to her daughter, Chibi-Usa, so long ago that it seemed like forever. And while it was nice being engaged to Mamoru, he was so rarely around anymore; she felt abandoned and alone, even with all of her friends so close by. Some comfort they were. Makoto had her cooking classes every week, while Minako fought petty crimes on her own; Rei was involved in a series of intensive training sessions to become the definitive high priestess at her shrine, and Ami was, of course, absorbed by her current studies, especially in her English class. It appeared she had finally stumbled upon the perfect match for her. An English exchange student had entered the school in the middle of the year, and ever since then Ami had been pushing herself to learn the language. And Usagi was alone. Even Luna was too busy for her, concerned with the affairs of the imminent Moon Kingdom. Artemis was helping Minako, so there was no chance there, and the mysterious outer senshi were keeping their distance lately for some reason. Not even so much as a peep had been detected from them in more than a year. That should be a relief, Usagi reflected, but it isn't. Even though it always means something serious everytime they show up, I miss Setsuna and Michiru and Haruka...and Hotaru. I'll bet Chibi-Usa misses Hotaru too, she thought. She stood up, tossing the trash from her scant lunch in a nearby bin. Looking around her, she saw all kinds of possibilities for friends and colleagues. Perhaps she would find one of them to be receptive to her personality? But no, Usagi was in no mood to make new friends, especially when she had such good old ones, even if they were never around anymore. She supposed that sort of thing happened when people grew older, but she never really thought it could happen to the senshi. "We were the defenders of the universe," she muttered, not really to anyone in particular. Sighing, Usagi continued across the street and made her way back home. 

As dusk crept closer, the lovely Minako Aino surveyed the street from her bedroom window. "It's that time again, Artemis!" She excitedly called, hardly able to suppress her excitement. "Are you ready?" The white cat lazily looked at her from across the room. "Can't you go without me, just for tonight? I need my sleep." He stretched idly and curled back up on his cushion. "Oh, Artemis...you know I'm just not Sailor V without you!" She prodded him off of the cushion and began to adjust her makeup in the vanity mirror. "Do I look all right?" "I don't see why you bother, you always get changed when you do your transformation anyway." "It's the principle. So do I look okay?" The cat silently nodded and sat down. "You know, you've been ignoring your school work a lot lately...and your friends." Mina gathered her supplies and looked around for her special glasses. "I haven't been ignoring my studies, I've just not been doing it as much...I'm still passing...have you seen my glasses?" "No." "Oh." Mina searched through her desk. "And as for my friends...well, they're always so busy. Mako's got classes, Rei's got that training of hers, Ami's always studying English with that exchange student guy, and Usagi..." After a short pause, Artemis leaned in. "Yes?" "Well, I'm sure Usagi's busy planning her wedding and whatever she does. Here they are!" Mina withdrew a pair of red oval-shaped glasses with strange fins on the end. "Those are so tacky." Artemis curled up and yawned again. "Why can't you just be Sailorvenus and leave it at that?" Mina slid them on, admiring her reflection. "Because, you silly thing, I was Sailor V before I joined the other senshi. And now that I've got some time to myself, I've been able to get back to that. Reclaim my individuality. Surely you understand that." "Surely." Artemis closed his eyes and quietly began to snore. Mina headed for the window, prodding her cat's tail with her foot. "Wake up." She slid the window open and slipped out of her room, onto the rooftop, then down the gutter pipe, with Artemis following suit, though with somewhat more difficulty. As he fell out of the gutter, totally unable to grasp the pipe, Mina caught him. "Good catch." "I've had plenty of practice." She looked around. "I heard there was something going on at the docks tonight. That's where we're headed." "Aww...it's always those docks. Doesn't anything ever happen at home?" "We can get fish on the way." Mina remarked nonchalantly, walking away. Artemis sprinted to her side, embued with a new energy. "That sounds nice...docks it is! Let's hurry!" 

Usagi tossed and turned, unable to sleep. At last, she climbed out of bed, tired of Luna's constant complaining, and headed downstairs to satisfy her dwindling appetite. Maybe I could join Mina and fight crime, she thought, but then a picture materialized in her mind of her falling flat on her face and getting kidnapped or something! That would be no good. She didn't speak much good English, she knew nothing about religion, and she couldn't cook the way Mako did if her life depended on it. No, there was nothing she had in common with her friends in the way of extracurricular activities, and it was days like this that really drove that point home. Luna came gingerly into the kitchen, hopping up onto the table. "What's wrong, Usagi?" She sat there sympathetically, smiling in a kind way. The blonde-haired girl simply sighed and shrugged. "It's like a bad dream or a plan by someone to make us grow apart. I don't see my friends as often anymore, and Mamoru's only around every once in a while. Chibi-Usa's gone back to the future, and not even the outer senshi come around any more." Her cat rubbed affectionately against her chin and was petted. "Usagi, that will happen to even the closest of friends. Everyone grows apart sometimes for a little while. But usually, if they're true friends, they'll grow close again as well." "What about Mamoru? And Chibi-Usa?" "If he wasn't serious about your love, he wouldn't have given you that ring. He's just dealing with a new level of responsibility now, and he might need some time to himself. As for Chibi-Usa...well, I thought you were relieved to see her go!" Luna chuckled, but Usagi simply munched idly on her ice cream sandwich. "That's not true." The cat considered the situation for a moment again. "Well, Artemis and I do miss Diana a great deal as well, but we'll see her again in time." "I just don't want to wait that long. I wish she was here now...Wait!" Usagi sat bolt upright and shook Luna. "You've seen Artemis? How is he? How's Mina?" After a short recovery, the black cat managed to reply, "Yes, yes, he's fine, they're both fine!" "I think we need to pay him a visit soon!" Usagi dropped the rest of her snack in the trashcan and ran to the coat closet, slipping on her jacket. "Come on, Luna!" "Usagi...you're forgetting something, aren't you?" "What?" "Well, a few things actually. Number one, you're wearing pajamas. Number two, it's after midnight. Number three, they're going to be out fighting crime at this hour." She absently licked her paw. "Oh yeah." Usagi tossed her jacket back into the closet and closed it, heading up the stairs to her room. She flopped down on her bed, soon joined by her cat and companion, and laid her head on the soft pillow. "We're going to visit them tomorrow, Luna. I'm going to get us all closer if it's the last thing I do." 

The following day was a busy one, and Usagi was unable to see a single one of her friends except in class, and even then the encounters were brief. But where was Mina? Usagi hadn't seen her a single time the whole day, and so the need was now urgent to see her friend. Finally, school let out for the day again, and Usagi headed straight to Mina's house, stopping only briefly to rendezvous with Luna, who rode the rest of the way on Usagi's tired shoulder. The girl rang the doorbell and quickly prepared herself for the long-overdue meeting. "What if she was sick today?" Luna kneaded Usagi's fuku. "It won't be much of a meeting then." "She wasn't. I just know it. I think something's up and I'm going to find out what!" At that moment, an older woman answered the door. It was Minako's mother. "Hello, Usagi. Are you here to meet Minako?" Usagi nodded. "Yes I am! I missed her in school today and was wondering if she was okay." The woman seemed anguished. "Actually, Usagi, she hasn't come home. I went in to wake her up this morning, and she wasn't there. There was no sign of her." "Just as I thought!" "I'm sorry?" Usagi sweatdropped. "Er, I mean, I thought that something would have had to happen to her for her to miss school...she's so studious lately!" Luna groaned as she accompanied her reluctant owner off, down the street. "Did you hear that, Luna?" "How could I avoid it?" Usagi steeled her determination and an intense look came over her face. "Something's happened to Mina...and I'm going to find out what! Did you have any idea where they were going last night? Did Artemis say anything?" "Just that they hang around at the seaside a lot. There and downtown." "Then that's where we'll go! The seaside at dark!" "Usagi..." Luna hopped down, sitting in front of her. "You do realize that Minako has much more hand-to-hand combat training than you do. It's very dangerous in those parts of town." "I know, but with my powers, I can handle anything!" Luna sweatdropped this time. "Don't you think we should ask some of the other senshi to help us?" "I've made up my mind, Luna. We're going to save Mina alone! Just you and me, like the old days!" "If you're sure..." Luna sighed and resignedly walked behind Usagi all the way back to her house. 

Rei concentrated on the flickering flames before her, allowing her eyes to unfocus, her spirit to go forth, and the fire to tell her what she would need to know. Her grandfather watched proudly, for although he knew her powers were great, even he could not have expected the true level of might Rei had attained, with or without her alter-ego, Sailormars. A heart...something...to do with love...and a rabbit...the rabbit...rabbit in the Moon...Sailormoon...Usagi... "Usagi..." Rei trailed off, in a trance; she quickly snapped out of it. "Usagi! Usagi and Minako are in trouble!" The raven-haired girl's grandfather looked up. "What now?" "I've got to go, grandfather. I'm sorry. I'll make up for it tomorrow and do extra meditation." She gathered her things and bowed to the fire, tossing a small scroll into it, then rushed out the door. "Girls. Hah!" Her grandfather chuckled and watched her run off. 

"She's gone? Already?" Rei put her hands on her hips, annoyed at Mrs. Tsukino's answer. "Thanks." The gratitude was hardly sincere, but Usagi's mother managed to keep her kind face until she shut the door. Rei walked back toward the temple, thinking. Mina was gone from school today...and that vision showed me that she was in trouble. Now Usagi's gone...has she gone to rescue Mina or has she met the same fate? Rei looked up at the setting sun, concentrating upon its fire, its flame. "Celestial fire," she whispered, "reveal to me what I need to know." And suddenly it all became clear. Enlightenment poured into Rei's young mind, and she knew exactly what she must do. Quickly she sprinted to a nearby bus stop, because she was headed far across town. 

"This is weird, Luna." Sailormoon looked around inside the damp warehouse. "I don't see any sign of her, but something tells me that she's in here." "Maybe it's a new power." Luna sniffed at the floor. "Something is fishy around here." The senshi glared at her cat, who smiled innocently. "You know Luna, I'd like some constructive help here." "There's only so much I can do. It's not like I'm parading around as Eternal Luna." Sailormoon idly peeked around a corner of crates. "I don't have any choice, Luna, until I get another transformation rod." She quickly amended, "If I get another transformation rod." The small black cat crawled atop the columns of crates and surveyed the area. "I can't see a thing. No, wait...!" The moon princess looked up. "Yes?" "I see something! It's Minako! Hooked up to some sort of machine! Sailormoon, you must rescue her!" "I'm on my way, Luna. You back me up!" Luna just stared after her. "Back you up? With what?" Concentrating intensely, Sailormoon could see the distinctive energy signature of her comrade Sailorvenus, even through the massive crates stacked endlessly around her. She somehow just knew, deep within, where Mina would be, and her body moved according to that sense. At last, she arrived to the sight of a strange web-shaped apparatus, stretched around both her friend and Artemis, apparently siphoning all of their energy. "U...Usa...gi..." Mina managed to whisper. Sailormoon moved to the console to the right of the webbing. "Don't try to speak. Save your strength." It was something she had heard in a movie once. "Perhaps you should save your strength, Sailormoon! You're going to need it!" A voice rang out from behind her, from above. She instantly spun around to face her adversary, scanning the tops of the crate cliffs that abounded in the warehouse. Sheer blackness met her gaze, but something in that moved; she could sense that too, just like Rei had been trying to get her to do. "I sense...evil..." Sailormoon whispered to herself. "Evil..." "That's me!" The voice suddenly became form, stepping out of the ash shadows that surrounded the senshi. "Evil Midnight is my name. And you should prepare for defeat." Sailormoon was taken by surprise at first, but then she regained her composure and frowned at the new arrival. "You're the one that should get ready to be beaten! I am Sailormoon, the pretty champion of Love and Justice. In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!" Evil Midnight just laughed; he was a formidable man, with a tall, lean figure and piercing blue eyes. His blue hair streaked back into a ponytail which cascaded down his back, and his body was garbed only in a black bodysuit decorated with silver piping. He tossed a small sphere in the moon fighter's direction, and she instinctively brought the scepter up to block her, but it was instead absorbed into the sphere! Sailormoon gasped, incredulous, as she watched her most powerful weapon vanish into the murky depths of the darkness. "You see, Sailormoon, you're powerless against me now!" "That's what you think!" She courageously held up her clenched fist to him, then looked to Luna. "What am I going to do, Luna?" "Don't ask me! I don't have any idea." "Some help you are." The dark-featured yet ghostly pale man advanced. "Enough. I'll finish you off quickly, unlike your prying friend here." He raised his hand to strike her, but it never went through with that motion. Before he could so much as move a muscle, the words echoed through the stale air like shattering glass: "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Exploding against his skin, the fiery arrow smashed its target into the ground. Midnight glared up. "So! You've brought some of your little friends. Well, no matter. I can defeat them as well." He hurled three spheres, identical to the one that held Sailormoon's scepter, up to where the other senshi stood in wait. At once, Jupiter launched into hers with a flurry of punches, but suddenly she found her fists immersed within the sphere and immobile; next came Mercury, attempting to shatter hers with the Aqua Rhapsody, but to no avail. Mars squared off against her sphere, squinting and calling up as much power as she needed. The sphere advanced suddenly, surprising her, but she quickly adapted and sprang off the crates, down to Evil Midnight's battleground. Saying nothing, she began to chant to herself and then spun around to face the villain. "BURNING... His eyes widened. "...MANDALA!!!" The fireballs shot out in every direction, igniting everything they came into contact with, flashing light upon the situation. The black spheres vanished, and Sailormoon's scepter fell to the floor; she dove for it and caught it immediately, and Evil Midnight backed away from the assembled group. "You may have won this round, Sailor Senshi...but be assured. You haven't heard the last from the Eternal Night." With that, he vanished into the shadows and was gone, even to the newly-illuminated area. "Sailormoon, are you all right?" Mars advanced to her friend's side, and with the assurance that everything was fine, she looked up to the others. "Is everything okay up there?" "It's fine now," Jupiter answered. "I'll be down in a second." Sailormoon smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Rei. You were there when I needed you." "Hey, that's what friends are for." Mars smiled back at her. "You know, we haven't been spending enough time together lately. Let's fix that." "Yeah!" Sailormoon laughed, ecstatic about the thought. "We need to get everybody together again and just have some fun!" "Unfortunately that's not going to be possible now that this new threat has made itself known." Mercury crossed over to the console and interfaced it with her own hand-held computer. "We have to save the fun until after we've defeated it." Sailormoon nodded. "Can you free her?" "It'll be difficult, but I can try." Mercury set to her work while Jupiter finished climbing down to the ground. "Why were the two of you here, anyway, Usagi?" Jupiter put her hands on her hips. "Was there something here that Luna detected or something like that?" "No, it was just a hunch." Sailormoon looked back at Mars. "You know, I finally understood what you were talking about. You know, when you were telling me about sensing things...just knowing them? I sensed Mina's location...and Evil Midnight's...I just knew they were where they were." "With some training, I'm sure you'll be even better," Luna chimed in, then hopped up onto the console to help Mercury. Mars nodded. "I agree. You need to come down to the temple sometime after school and I'll teach you some exercises to hone that skill." "I've got it!" Mercury called out, and everyone turned to see. The web receded from Venus's body and Artemis's as well, withdrawing into a small black sphere, much like the kind that had just attacked them all. "That's weird," Jupiter commented. "I wonder where that kind of technology's from?" "According to this, it's from the Moon," Mercury answered. "I am reading definite construction from the Silver Millennium." "Silver Millennium?" Sailormoon stared at the small sphere. "Was it from the Dark Kingdom?" "I don't know..." Mercury knelt down to examine it, activating her visor. "All I can see is the Moon. And I can't touch it...if I do, it's set to explode." "It's moving!" Mars leaped back out of its way as it hovered past her, heading out to another area of the warehouse. "We've got to get out of here before it hits something!" The group of senshi hurried out, with Jupiter carrying Venus and Mercury helping Luna and Artemis both out on her shoulders. Suddenly, as they all arrived at the entry to the place, they heard a high- pitched tone, and fire shot out of the back of the place. "Out, quick!" Mars shoved everyone closer to the exit, and they all began to run out, followed by her. When they were a safe distance, they turned around to watch as a huge explosion engulfed the entire warehouse. Where the building had been, there was only charred rubble now, mere ashes of what it once was. "That was from the Moon?" Sailormoon whispered, mainly to herself, staring at the destruction it had caused. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***In the space around the sparkling jewel that is planet Earth, a jet black sphere revolved threateningly, giving off the kind of signals only emitted by objects of great power and ancient mystery. It had gauged the power of its enemies; now it had to strike. A pair of dark gloved hands in the murky interior moved a lever and then folded, as a terrifying smile cracked in the mysterious figure's face.*** 

Warning From the Past! A New Transformation. 

"From the Moon...I can't believe it..." Usagi sat, staring out her window with her hands propping up her head. Luna hopped up to the sill and looked at her. "What's wrong, Usagi?" For a moment she was silent, then Usagi looked at the cat. "I just can't believe that something so destructive could come from the Moon, during the Silver Millennium." Luna nodded. "And whatever it is, I didn't even know about it. I don't know what the nature of that thing is." "..." Usagi just kept staring as the sky grew darker. "And now the weather's turned bad. I'll bet there's a connection." "It's regular for this time of year." Luna jumped to the bed and sat beside Usagi. "Don't you have an appointment?" "Oh!" The girl nearly fell over her own feet getting to the door. "That's right! Rei agreed to help me with that sight power!" Luna sighed and watched Usagi bound down the stairs and out the door at breakneck speed, and then the small cat curled up and closed her eyes. 

A handsome man browsed through the selection of jewelry, finally selecting a pair of sparkling crystal dangle earrings. He smiled and paid quickly, then took them out of the box and put them on, wearing them out of the shop. On anyone else, they would have looked overly ostentatious, but somehow he wore them well. His jet-black hair trailed down his back and set off his icy grey eyes and comparatively pale complexion, but for some reason the electric blue shirt and beige trousers he wore seemed to also strangely go with his appearance. His boots were somewhat odd, however, strangely heeled and of an almost metallic substance. He seemed to call attention subtlely to himself. He walked down the street, only stopping once in the doorway of a seedy bar, surveying the area. He found nothing at first, but then, suddenly, his eyes fixed on a young girl at the back of the place, sipping her wine gingerly. He smiled to himself and decided to go in. 

Usagi crashed in through the doors of the temple, disturbing Rei from her vigil at the foot of the fire. "Could you make a little more noise, Usagi?" Rei glared back at her, noticing the out-of-breath condition of her friend. "You're already late, and we haven't even begun your training yet." Usagi panted as she caught her breath, hunched over at the door. "I'm...sorry...*pant*...Luna...talking...Moon...*gasp*" "Catch your breath..." Rei walked down and sat Usagi at a small cushion on the floor. "Is something wrong? Somebody in trouble?" The raven-haired girl clutched her transformation pen tensely as she awaited the response from her friend. Usagi shook her head and finally seemed to regain her full lung capacity once more. "No...no, I was just late again. I'm very sorry, Rei." The fire priestess was taken by surprise. "Uh...that's okay, Usagi. I kind of expected you to be..." "I shouldn't be. That isn't the kind of thing a princess is supposed to do." Usagi stood up nobly and crossed to the fire, kneeling in front of it. "I need to start acting more like a princess instead of just some clutzy little girl." "Usagi..." Rei knelt beside her, pausing for a moment. "Something must be bothering you for you to behave like this. Do you want to talk about it?" Usagi stared at her hands, avoiding Rei's gaze stopping herself from looking into the open flame. "...I..." "Is this about the Moon Kingdom? Crystal Tokyo?" The blonde girl shook her head. "Not Crystal Tokyo..." Rei sat for a second, staring into the fingers of flame shooting from the embers of the fire. "Is it the Silver Millennium?" "Yes." She turned to face Rei, looking her straight in the eyes for the first time since she had arrived. "That thing that hurt Mina was from the Silver Millennium, and...and Luna wasn't told about it..." Rei put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "That doesn't mean that it was your fault Mina got trapped. It was that Evil Midnight guy that did it! You should be proud that you stopped him." "I didn't do anything." Usagi looked into the fire, her eyes welling with tears. "You and the other senshi did everything. Just like usual." "Don't say those kinds of things!" The black-haired girl turned Usagi's head back to face her. "If you hadn't arrived when you did, Mina might be dead!" Usagi sighed and looked away, at the fire again. "I need to find my destiny. I have to be the queen in the future. I have to grow into that, and to do that I have to develop what I need now." "But you won't have to do everything without your friends." Rei smiled at her, and Usagi finally looked back, slightly smiling. "No matter what, you know we'll always be beside you when you need us." "What about that web?" "We'll find out what it's all about. But you're forgetting that you're here for a reason!" Rei turned back to the fire. "Stare into the fire...let your eyes unfocus...and concentrate on only the fire... there is nothing else..." 

The dark gentleman walked along aside the girl as they headed into a less busy section of the courtyard she had found. "So what's your name?" She smiled at him, making sure her hair was exactly the way she wanted it. "Mine is Anniko." He grinned widely. "My friends call me Midnight." "What a beautiful name!" She began to put her lipstick on, checking her reflection in the compact she had fished out of her purse. "And what do you do?" "I steal the energy from beautiful young women." He laughed quietly, and Anniko briefly joined him, then thought better of it, looking into his eyes. "That's a good joke," she remarked, still staring at him, hoping for some sign of assurance. She received none. "And then I turn them into evil reflections of their former selves." He laughed again, this time waving his hand in front of her face. Her world suddenly went black, and her eyes were totally blank. Midnight ripped his street clothes off, and suddenly he was in his black bodysuit again, strange clouds gathering around his body. "Now for your energy. And if I'm lucky, those endless reserves of power will return...and this time I'll be ready for them." He flicked his wrist, and spheres of blackest darkness shot out at the girl, spiraling around her and wrapping her in a web of electronic tendrils. Midnight's eyes glowed as he absorbed the energy and scanned the surroundings for any others that might witness his sinister act, but there was no one at all. He would have her total energy and then unleash the new Anniko on the city. That would be enough to destroy the interloping senshi...and draw them in so that their powers could be absorbed, their endless wells of energy used to power the Eternal Night. He had spent his long slumber educating himself on the ways of the endless number of senshi scattered around the universe, and he knew the way these would operate. If he created a monster, they would come to defeat it. 

Usagi fell back as the fire flared up; Rei moved to catch her, looking into her troubled eyes. "What's wrong?" "I saw him!" Usagi shakily got to her feet, followed by Rei. "It's Evil Midnight! And he's attacked someone else." "Where?" "In a courtyard, near the Dark Bell Tavern." She turned to face the priestess. "Let's transform, quick, and stop him!" Rei nodded and thrust her hand, holding her transformation pen, into the air. "Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!" Usagi brushed her hand in front of her locket. "Moon Eternal Make Up!" The young priestess was surrounded with circlets of flame, forming a new outfit, a sailor fuku in red and white, with high heels and a tiara upon her head. She struck a heroic pose and proclaimed, "I am Sailormars!" As Usagi spun around, sparkling feathers caressed her body and clothed her in a lovely fuku, similar but more elaborate, with a golden skirt of three layers, knee-high white boots, and puffed shoulders with feathered sleeves as they met her arm-length gloves. Her odangos were covered with ruby caps and white wings took the place of her usual ribbon on both her chest and on her back, although those on her back were much larger. She finally came to a stop, majestic and resplendent in her ethereal beauty. "Let's go, Sailormars!" The two left the temple quickly, leaving only the crackling fire in their wake. 

Evil Midnight stratched his chin absently, watching the girl in her web-cocoon as she floated slightly off the ground. He checked his hand-held console and nodded. "Only a few more seconds..." At that moment, an energetic voice came from behind where he was standing. He turned, casually, to meet with the vision of the two formidable senshi confronting him. "Fighting for love and justice..." Sailormars began. Sailormoon picked up the speech. "We are the pretty senshi: Sailormoon!" "And Sailormars!" "In the name of the Moon..." "We will punish you!" They both finished simultaneously. The speech was met by a quiet clapping, from Midnight, who was grinning at them condescendingly. "That was lovely. Now, I believe we were supposed to pick up where you left off yesterday?" "What's going on here? Who's that in the web?" Sailormoon advanced on the villain. "Just some tart I picked up in a bar. Not that you need to worry about her at all..." He reached into his breast pocket and his hand flashed across in front of him, releasing more of the black spheres to stop his adversaries. The orbs exploded with energy, effectively forming a wall between the senshi and their enemy. Midnight waved irreverently as he slid into the shade of a nearby tree, vanishing completely from the scene. As he did so, the flashing energy of the spheres dissipated, and the two senshi rushed forth to the webbed woman, attempting to form a plan that would free her. Their time had just run out; the woman's hands curled into hideous claws, and her expression transformed from that of a beautiful young woman into a hideous creature of the darkness. Sailormoon screamed as she toppled back, out of the way of the monster's claws as it ripped its way free from the sparkling webbing, which as usual withdrew into another black sphere; however, this time it simply vanished after Midnight instead of detonating. At least she could be grateful for this. Sailormoon rolled to her feet, followed by Sailormars, who had also been caught off-guard by the sudden emergence of the creature. "MARS FLAME..." She began, but the creature was too quick and nimbly swatted her into a tree, where she slumped to the ground. Sailormoon was alone against one of the most powerful creatures she had ever come into contact with, and she had no idea what her next move would be, so she simply attempted to dodge, falling on her face in the dirt as her legs were slammed out from under her. "Princess..." she muttered, "...I am the Moon Princess. I have to defeat this. It is my duty." She steeled her look. "It is my destiny." She stood and pointed her tier at the monster. "I cannot let you commit this destruction with the form of the woman you have claimed. It is my duty to stop you, as Sailormoon!" The creature leaped towards her, but as it did so, the beautiful senshi began to spin her tier, calling out the words of her potent magical attack. "SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!" As the light on her crystal poured forth with energy and the feathers that had accompanied her transformation fluttered past the woman, transformed back from her form as the demonic monstrosity she had once been. Sailormoon smiled, satisfied that what she had done was exactly what she needed to do. Anniko stood weakly and hobbled to Sailormoon, who caught and supported her. "Thank you...whoever you...are..." The senshi gently lowered her to the ground and ran to her fellow fighter, now in a crumpled heap under a tree. "Rei?" Usagi shook her by the shoulders. "Sailormars!" With a groan, Mars batted her eyes and finally came to rest her gaze on the other girl. "Sailormoon?" Her friend nodded. "Yes. Are you all right?" "I'll live." Mars slowly got to her feet with help, then turned. "Sailormoon!" The winged fighter spun around to face the threat that Mars had noticed, and it was Anniko, half reverted to the creature she had been transformed into by Evil Midnight. "No!" Sailormoon brought her tier up to her face. "I'll do it again! Maybe it didn't work totally..." Instantly, a rose shot in front of the creature that was once Anniko. "Sailormoon!" A voice called from the treetops, and both of the girls looked up to find the source, both knowing who was calling. "Tuxedo Mask!" They chorused. "You must look within yourself, Sailormoon. The power is within you to use, so use it!" She nodded and fixed her eyes on the monster, then closed them and concentrated on her inner power...seeing the fire that she saw at the temple, only this time it was burning deep within her soul. The locket she had somehow managed to repair from its destruction when she fought Sailorgalaxia...it was not enough. It shattered abruptly, causing Mars and Tuxedo Mask to gasp in surprise, but Sailormoon remained silent as her transformation vaporized in an instant. Her lips were silent for a moment, and then they cried forth with a new phrase: "Silver Moon Phase Make Up!" At once, Usagi's form was wrapped in ribbons, and as each one fell away with sparkling wings carrying it, she emerged as if she were a butterfly from a cocoon in her new fuku. It shimmered in the brilliant sunlight, with the usual white bodysuit, but this time the locket was reformed in the shape of a full moon, flanked on either side by a crescent moon facing outwards, holding the white-gold ribbon in place. The other accents of the uniform...the skirt, glove tops, and boots...were the same color, all a pristine white flecked by gold sparkles. She was also protected by shoulder armor, triple-layered, and a well-blended breastplate. In her hair were crystals beautifully angled to catch the sunlight, and upon her odangos were now iridescent caps that constantly flowed from one color to another. As she floated gently to the ground once more, the trailing ribbon on her back fluttered behind her, and her eyes met with the monster's, flickering in time with her tiara. She held up her Eternal Tier, and now it began to flow as she held it, reforming around her grasp into a more slender, longer rod of ivory white, with a heart-shaped crystal at the end, red as the fire she held within her, flickering with the very power she had felt. Upon it was the outline of three more hearts, each in gold, and atop that a shimmering, jeweled miniature gold crown. It shone brightly in the sun as she raised it above her head. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" Instantly, two moons flashed, side by side, at the crystal, and then they split and flashed on either side of Sailormoon. As the creature watched them, they began to once again draw inward, and before the former Anniko could move again, they had struck it, forming a Moon-shaped chamber around it. As the monster desperately struggled to escape, the Moon shape solidified, flickering with energy, and then it flowed away, as if a single drop of water had disrupted its perfect image. All three senshi rushed to Anniko's side as she was revealed, lying on the green grass. "She's all right, but she'll need medical attention." Tuxedo Mask looked up at Sailormoon. "I knew that you had the power within your heart." As she smiled at him, he leaped off into the distance. "I'm going to fetch a doctor. Stay there!" Mars looked at Sailormoon and grinned. "I told you that things would work out!" "I think you're right, Rei..." The blonde looked up at the picturesque sky. "I think everything might just be the way I want it to be for now." 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The orb neared Earth, still unnoticed by any who might have otherwise been able. Its field of darkness masked it, even in the sparkling night sky, clear and full of stars. As it began to near its place of landing, an aurora effect flashed before it, and it hesitated for an instant; in that time, the aurora had gone. The orb resumed its course for landing.*** 

Mystery Man in Town! The Secret Landing of Eternal Night. 

A tall, lean man rose from his bed, pulling a thick grey robe around his slender figure and continuing out to the back patio, where he sat, watching the sunrise. His strange hair sparkled in the sun... it was, at first glance, just a dark blond, but then it seemed to change, first to brown, then to black, then red, then orange, then to blue and green... He looked up and it reverted to a swirling strawberry, his eyes seeing through the immediate surroundings, to another scene, far away from his current whereabouts. A quiet thought escaped from his lips. "Sailormoon." 

The inner senshi were gathered at Rei's temple, all of them sitting in the back, surrounded by the beautiful trees with their blooms scattering on the wind. Ami typed on her hand-held computer while Minako talked with Artemis, Makoto and Rei prepared tea and Usagi sat silently, simply observing the flowers and leaves flying away. She finally spoke when Luna approached her. "I haven't seen Mamoru in three days...do you think something's happened to him?" "I don't know," Luna replied, sitting at Usagi's feet. "He should be able to hold his own in any fight, though, and I think he would let us know if anything came along he didn't think he could handle." "True." Usagi looked around as Rei and Makoto came out with tea and cookies. "Here you go, everyone." Rei sat down her tray and sat down beside Usagi; at once all the others gathered around her. "As you know, Sailormoon has gained another transformation, this time achieving yet higher levels of power. It's...what was it called, Usagi?" Luna turned to her. The blonde girl smiled down at the cat. "Legendary Phase Sailormoon." "Yes, that's it." Luna turned to the others. "In any case, she has also gained a new attack, and so you must also be aware of this. It's called Spinning Moon Reflection, isn't that right?" Usagi and Rei nodded, sipping their tea. "So don't be alarmed if things occur differently than last time you saw her transform." Luna looked at the white cat next to her. "Artemis, what's next on the agenda?" He peered over Ami's shoulder onto her computer screen. "Next is addressing the threat of the Eternal Night." "Ah, yes." She looked back at the girls. "Artemis and I have found some information on this new threat, the Eternal Night." "Is it really from the Silver Millennium?" Usagi leaned forward, desperate to know the answer. "We haven't found out yet," answered Luna, slightly disappointed. "However, we do know that it was in existence during the Silver Millennium, and that it had a loose connection with another enemy of the senshi, Neherenia." "Neherenia?" All the scouts chorused, totally shocked by this new revelation. Luna nodded. "However, it was not she that was responsible for the plan of the Eternal Night." Ami closed her computer and retracted her visor. "What's the aim of this group, and how many are in it?" "That's information that I can't find, unfortunately. Except we do know that part of the aim at least is the same as Neherenia's...to bring darkness to the light." "Maybe Setsuna would know." Usagi stood and stared off into the sky. "We need to find her." The others looked up at her, surprised at her suggestion, but all also silently praising her logic. "We can try." Luna nodded to Artemis, who turned to Ami and whispered to her. Ami nodded and opened her pocket computer, typing furiously at the keys, until finally Artemis nodded. "According to this, her power signature is masked...and we can't find any of the other outers, either, because of some strange energy effect in the sky around here." "What is it?" Luna leaped onto Ami's shoulder, reading the information displayed on the screen. Ami scrolled down the text and scrutinized a small display. "It seems to be some sort of energy wave. Its visual pattern is the same as the Aurora Borealis, but that's only local to North America, Alaska in particular..." "Could it be a plan by the Eternal Night?" Makoto clenched her fists, ready for action. "It could be..." Luna tapped a few keys and observed the result. "I can't be sure." Rei stood and headed back into the temple, leaving the tea and snacks for the others. "I'll do a fire reading, maybe that will tell us more about the nature of this new energy." "Good idea, Rei." Usagi smiled at her friend, who noticed the sparkle in the princess's eyes. "All of you, thank you. I'm going to watch Rei now, to try and learn some of her techniques of fire scrying." The others silently watched her enter the temple, none daring to speak on the strangely changed girl that they thought they knew as the clumsy Usagi Tsukino. At last, Minako spoke up. "Usagi's really changed...I think she's trying more and more to fit into her destiny as the Queen in the future..." Makoto squinted at the temple. "I don't like it. I think she's trying to do too much at once, and I don't think she's going to be able to keep it up for as long as she thinks she can. It's going to put too much stress on her." "I hope she's okay," Ami added with a sigh. "I really have worried about her ever since that night she found out this whole thing came from the Moon." All of them nodded, and each made a silent promise to guard their princess with the utmost care. 

The man was now garbed in a green silk shirt and a vest, with black trousers and boots, and a plain grey trenchcoat over all of it, with a comfortable-looking tartan green muffler wrapped tight around his neck. He walked down the street, looking this way and that, not allowing any to escape his gaze. Suddenly he had found the object of his search, and he stopped, ducking into a shadowy alley ninjalike to observe. The man he had noticed was Midnight, garbed in his usual outfit of a showy, upscale business suit and earrings, which made the observer finger his own three earrings...two in right, one in left... almost as if to assess them. He stopped and turned his attention back to Midnight. The dark-haired villain was, once again, heading into the Dark Bell Tavern, and his trenchcoat-garbed watcher crept in silently after him. 

"I see it again!" Usagi fell back from the fire, startled. "He's attacking someone again...at the same place. It's the Dark Bell Tavern!" Rei raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Why would he use the same place? It doesn't make sense. It seems like he'd only be expected to appear there." "I don't know." Usagi stood. "But we must stop him before he is allowed to destroy another life." The raven-haired priestess put a restraining hand on Usagi's shoulder as the blonde girl prepared to rush off. "Wait, Usagi." "Yes?" She turned to face her friend. "Do us all a favor and...take it slowly. You can't become Neo- Queen Serenity in one day." Usagi sighed, and looked up at Rei. "I know...I know...but I also know how important it is that the senshi have someone regal and courageous to lead them..." "It never mattered to us before..." Usagi sweatdropped, and Rei slightly reconsidered her approach. "Er, what I meant to say is, you're regal and courageous without trying, but when you try so hard to be grown and responsible all at once, you just end up disturbing everyone." "All right." The other girl nodded, smiling slightly. "I was getting a little tired of pretending." "We like you for who you are, Usagi." Rei hugged her tightly. "Usagi!" Ami's voice echoed through the chamber as she burst in. "Come see, quickly!" All three rushed outside, where the others stood, transfixed, as the sky exploded with energy. It was clouded and dark, but at the same time that bolts of pure black energy shot across the sky in a chain, an aurora rippled through them, dissipating them as quickly as they had come into being. "Everyone! Transform!" Usagi prepared herself for the stunning transformation into the leader of the senshi, Sailormoon. 

The man with iridescent hair was caught in the web, gritting his teeth and attempting to resist the energy-siphoning powers of the apparatus. "They're just using you," he protested. "When they land, it'll be your destruction." "Rubbish." Evil Midnight went back to work with his console, then turned back to the man, raising an eyebrow. "Well now, this is interesting." "What?" "You seem to possess...an inordinate amount of energy. Suspiciously near those senshi who are giving me so much trouble. Will you tell me all you know about them, or do I have to take every last bit of your energy and use you against them?" Midnight grabbed the man's hair and pulled his head up so that they were face-to-face, then slapped the man with the other hand. He was met by a well-aimed spit in his eye. "That is my answer, Midnight." The black-haired villain slapped him again, this time much harder than before. "For that, you will suffer." He adjusted a few controls on the hand-held console, and the man screamed in agony. "Just a minute, Midnight!" The voice of Sailormoon was unmistakable through the trees in the somewhat battle-ravaged courtyard. As the sinister figure turned around, she continued her speech with courage in her voice that the other senshi had never before detected; she was her old self again, but somehow she was so much more as well. "We are the pretty senshi, and we're here to punish you for what you've done, once and for all! I'm ready to take you on!" "Then fight we shall, Sailormoon." Midnight flung more of his ominous spheres at the senshi, each one hovering in front of one of them and forming a dark clone, except for Sailormoon, who glared at the man. "You won't stop me!" She lunged forward with her rod, swinging it expertly at Midnight, but he leaped nimbly out of the way to face her from the treetops. He laughed darkly and sneered down at her. "You have a lot to learn, Sailormoon. Farewell to you." As he finished, a huge bolt of dark energy crashed into the tree, but it did not set it ablaze; instead, it simply consumed the tree in the shadow, and nothing remained. The princess gasped, and something inside her warned her that a truly horrific event would occur if she could not win this battle. She turned her attention to the man engulfed in the web, satisfied that he had not yet been transformed into a hideous adversary. She held her Phase Rod up to the sky, and its heart jewel reflected the light of the dimming sun. "MOON PHASE REFLECTION!" she proclaimed, and the attack began on the web. 

Elsewhere in the park, each senshi was fighting her own dark self, with limited success. Each time one would attack, the other would block perfectly, and vice-versa. Mars was truly becoming annoyed at the match. "We've got to do something to help Sailormoon, but how can we defeat something that expects our every move?" Mercury attempted a punch against her clone, but it was blocked as usual. "Wait! If we use our powers against each other's enemies, then maybe they won't be expecting it!" "Good idea!" Mars turned to Mercury's clone. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" The attack sliced neatly through Mercury's dark adversary, dissipating it almost instantly. "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" The waters swirled out, blowing the bogus Mars totally apart. The other two senshi quickly followed their example, and once again the four assembled, facing the web. "All right, let's go help Sailormoon," Mars called out, and the others nodded, falling in behind her as they rushed to their leader's side. 

Sailormoon sighed as her attack once again had no effect, and she sank to her knees. "I'm sorry...I can't break the web...it's too strong for me." She began to cry, wailing as her tears streamed down her face. Just as the man in the web withdrew a small, slender amulet from his pocket, the sound waves exploded outward from Sailormoon's forehead, ripping the web apart and dropping him to the ground. The princess looked up and sniffled, then noticed what she had done and smiled proudly, getting to her feet again. "I knew I could do it! Another job well done by Sailormoon, fighter for love and justice..." "Sailormoon!" The other senshi called in panic. She looked up, and suddenly there was no more time to think; above her and descending rapidly was a sphere of purest blackness, the perfect dark. Bolts cracked around it like that of Midnight's collected energy, flashing brilliantly and spreading its gloom upon the face of Tokyo. The senshi gathered around their leader, who clasped her rod tightly and steeled her determination. "We can't let that thing set down here." 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The black sphere descended toward the welcoming Earth, crackling with darkest energy around it. Bolts flashed threateningly as it neared the small group of five little senshi huddled together, as their leader held her staff high and prepared for the oncoming assault. Unnoticed, the man in a trenchcoat that had just been freed from Midnight's web slipped away, still clutching the amulet he held in his pocket.*** 

A Strange New Senshi! The Descent of the First Strike. 

"Sailormoon!" The other inner senshi gathered around their leader and ruler, bracing themselves for the battle. The sphere, larger than the entire courtyard and, indeed, the city block, grew ever closer, threatening to crush them with its immense size and mass. A feeling of dread seemed to emanate from within it, radiating out among the people who witnessed its arrival. Indeed, the crowds around were screaming and frantically fleeing the area, hoping in their hearts that something would avert this total disaster, something would stop it from coming. Cars stopped dead in the road to watch with a morbid curiosity, each driver silently praying that they were dreaming. In the courtyard, Venus was the first to break the uneasy silence of the group. "How can we stop it? It's so large!" "We have to try." Jupiter shot out her hand. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" The brown-haired girl spun around, electric leaves shooting out from her body and into the sphere. Although they seemed to do something to the exterior of the craft, it was not revealed to them and the descent hardly slowed. Venus stared after the attack. "Would a Sailor Planet Attack work?" "We can try." Mercury reached out and took Mars' hand, and all the senshi were soon connected in a circle, with Sailormoon in the center still. They all began to concentrate, glowing in auras the color of their fuku. The energy warped around them, shimmering as their radiant beauty poured into their effort, and at last they opened their eyes and all shouted at once: "SAILOR PLANET POWER!" A beam of multicolored energy exploded from their ring, knocking the group to the ground; it was a greater effort than they had ever put forth previously with that attack. The blast rocked the oncoming invader and smashed into it with a force so great that the sphere briefly shone white as a pearl. The dark energy around it began to destroy the senshi's attack, however, and soon it was back to its previous condition, although it no longer advanced. "We've bought some time, at least," Sailormoon said, getting to her feet slowly. "We have to have help. Somehow we've got to contact the outer senshi!" 

A hand moved back the curtain to observe the darkening of the sky, somehow concentrated at a point within the city. Eyes observed, eyes of a tall woman with long, dark green hair, and as they took in the situation, she turned back to the room. "It is time." 

Tendrils flashed out from the black sphere, burying themselves in the ground and anchoring the massive craft. As it hovered there, some distance above the ground, the group of girls below got to their feet. "I hope the outers are on their way," Mars muttered, bringing her arm up for her attack. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" The flaming projectile sliced into one of the anchors, severing it instantly; however, without its lower half, it began to flail around through the air and came dangerously close to the senshi. Venus prepared her attack, blowing a kiss into her hand and then flinging a sphere of energy at the tendril, disintegrating it. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" "Whew." Mars bent over to catch her breath. "And there are six more to go." Mercury sighed. "We'll never stop them at this rate. And I think it's starting to get closer again!" Sailormoon walked forward, her hair blowing in the wind that had whipped up with the arrival of the clouds earlier in the day. "We've got to try. If that thing lands, we're all finished." The others nodded and went to work at destroying the tendrils, first detaching them and then destroying the parts that remained. They worked quickly and efficiently, watching their princess do the same. She was able to use her new attack surprisingly well, smashing through the enemy's defenses and not allowing the tendrils time to adjust. At last, there was only one tendril anchoring the sphere to the planet, and the senshi advanced on it as a group. As they did so, the thing began to emit a low hum, then lashed out with miniature vines at the senshi. "JUPITER..." She once again began her attack. "OAK EVOLUTION!" The leaves sliced through a few of the vines, but they split and approached, shooting around the senshi. Sailormoon clutched her staff, but the vines were too much; she was forced to drop it and she watched as it plunged to the ground below. This looked like the end...the final, tendril had used its ultimate defense to halt its foes' efforts, and now the vines were tightening. "I'm sorry, everyone..." Sailormoon closed her eyes tightly as she felt the vines increasing the strength of their grasp. 

A quiet voice broke the tense silence. "...Death...Scream..." Sailormoon opened her eyes again to see the barrage of shining violet energy slicing through the vines that imprisoned her and those around her. As she fell to the ground, landing on her shoulder, she knew it must be the outer senshi coming to the rescue. "Ouch..." She massaged her sore shoulder and looked up, seeing not only the tall woman with green hair, but also a shorter girl, dressed in dark purple, and a couple of women, one with short blonde hair and the other with shoulder-length aqua hair. "Pluto! Saturn!" Sailormoon called out, getting to her feet as quickly as she could. "Uranus! Neptune!" "Sailormoon! Behind you!" Uranus bolted forward toward her as another flurry of vines exploded from the defending tendril, knocking the princess out of the way. Uranus gritted her teeth and squinted, her piercing blue eyes focusing on the enemy. She reached into the air, golden energy flashing between her fingers, and she slammed it into the ground with the words of her attack. "WORLD SHAKING!" The sphere of energy burst through the defense of vines and ripped savagely through the final tendril, severing the last link of the sphere. However, the remains of the protruberance lashed out, knocking Uranus and Sailormoon to the ground. "Haruka!" Neptune rushed forward, but a series of bolts exploded from the sphere, striking the ground near her and knocking her back, unconscious. Pluto and Saturn braced themselves as another flurry of energy from the craft struck the ground as they rushed to Sailormoon. The girl with black hair thrust her glaive into the sky in a guarding position over the senshi on the ground. "SILENCE WALL!" All of the beams crashing around them were at once deflected away harmlessly, but the strain was apparent in Saturn's face that she would not be able to hold the shield indefinitely. Sailormoon turned to Pluto. "Setsuna, is there anything else we can do?" The woman shook her head. "I...do not know. Sailormoon...I am sorry..." "You did your best." She smiled and took Setsuna's hand. "Thanks for saving us." Saturn was being pushed back in the ground by the sheer force of the bolts hurled at her shield, and her face displayed obvious pain. The other senshi had recovered and gathered around her, hoping that if they were to reduce the area to be protected, it might be easier. "Sailormoon...I cannot...hold this...for much longer." The princess nodded. "I understand." She turned to the others. "We are going to have to do our best against the enemy, despite their power." All of the senshi nodded and prepared themselves, and Sailormoon crossed to Saturn. Just as she was about to speak, the aurora effect reappeared, this time closer and more intense than ever before; the bolts fizzled out before even reaching the field of energy that produced the strange rippling, and a voice called out amid the furor. "AURORA VARIATION!" Pluto's hand instantly went to her tiara; she was sensing a strangeness that she had felt before, and she knew it was serious. "Sailormoon...something is happening with the timeline." "What?" She spun around to face Pluto. "Is it going to change the future?" "I do not know." The woman closed her eyes and began to concentrate. "I must go, Sailormoon. I must find what is happening to cause this effect." The princess nodded and turned back to the lights as the single senshi dashed away in silence from the group. "It's the aurora...it's so beautiful!" Venus smiled as she observed the stunning spectacle. Mercury began to type on her computer, having activated her visor to begin analysis of the phenomenon. "That's very strange...it seems to have distorted the very fabric of reality around the sphere! It just reads as if it's not there anymore!" "It's been isolated," a voice replied, and all the senshi turned to face the source. It was a man, tall and lean, garbed in something like the fuku they all wore. His bodysuit extended from his shoulders to his knees, however, and was covered partly by thigh-high boots; he possessed the same gloves and shoulder armor that the other senshi did, and his collar was also the same. Around his neck was a choker with a star within a circle, similar to the amulet that fastened his collar. His eyes shimmered with the same energy as the aurora above him, and his hair was iridescent. "I am Sailorborealis, called forth from the infinite sky. I am the senshi of light." They all stared for an instant, and then Uranus reached once more into the sky and suddenly clutched a blade and lunged for the new arrival. Moving at speeds far too quick to perceive, he reappeared just behind her, tripping her with a foot sweep. The sword bounced out of her hands and flew a distance away, and Uranus cursed and braced herself for a killing blow. Borealis took her hand and helped her to her feet, much to her surprise. Still watching him closely, she went to collect her sword and returned it to its place. "What is your business here?" The woman squared off with him, still unsure about his nature. The man raised an eyebrow and grinned slightly. "I'm here to help, if you'll have me." Uranus unsurely backed toward the other senshi, and now Sailormoon advanced on him. "Sailorborealis...where do you come from? What is your guardian planet?" "I have none, any more." He closed his eyes with a sigh, then met the princess's gaze again. "It departed from this galaxy long ago, before your birth...it was once the sister planet to Earth, and whenever they neared each other, the effect you know as aurora was produced." "In the same place?" Mercury typed on her computer absently and looked up. He nodded. "Yes. Always in the north. But soon it became local to this world due to an energy imbalance." "What happened?" Venus now was becoming interested in the story. "The Eternal Night happened." The senshi gasped collectively. Sailormoon was the first to speak. "What is...the Eternal Night?" Borealis gazed at the buzzing sphere and the fading aurora. "It was the plan to upset the balance between light and darkness in the universe. Some of Neherenia's minions began it, unbeknownst to her, and if it hadn't been for her, they might have succeeded." "Neherenia stopped them?" Sailormoon was surprised at the possibility. "Not exactly." "Then what happened?" Uranus now spoke, also noticing the collapsing light effects above her. "I don't have time to explain," he snapped, leaping into the air again and vanishing into the sphere. "He's gone!" Sailormoon rushed forth to where he had been standing and looked after him, to see the aurora totally dissipate. She braced herself for the inevitable attack, but it never came; instead, the sphere began to quake violently, and as it did so, it split apart, beams of light shooting out in every direction from within the very core of the shape. The senshi gathered around their leader to protect her, but as quickly as it had begun, the phenomenon ended. The sphere had vanished, and the sky began to clear. There was no sign of the mysterious new senshi, the strange man who came from a lost world, and nor was there any more sign of the outers, who vanished as abruptly as they had appeared. "We did it," Sailormoon said, smiling. "We stopped it, at least for now." The others nodded, each wondering when they would be forced again to fight the formidable black sphere. As they walked back to the temple, a single ray of light seemed to shine down upon them, warming them outside and in after their ordeal. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The sphere rocketed into space, still black as night and just as threatening. It seemed somewhat disrupted, its shape warped and its interior wrecked, but it would recover and then it would strike back at the warriors which had repulsed its attack so perfectly.*** 

Midnight Returns! Crimes and Punishment by the Eternal Night. 

Midnight kneeled before the figureless voice. "I report, Master." "You have again failed to defeat these warriors who protect the Earth." "I am sorry, Master." Midnight looked up desperately. "I did not realize there were more that would deflect our attack, and I had no idea that...he...would show up." "He was an unexpected setback. What do you intend to do about him?" "Destroy him, if we can find him. But first I'll crush those pathetic girls who oppose me at every turn." "You must acquire more energy for us." The voice continued. "We were gravely damaged in the assault. We must rebuild for the final attack on the planet...the Eternal Night must at last fall." "Yes, Master." He slowly rose and turned to leave, but the voice again rang out. "Should you fail us again, however, Midnight..." He closed his eyes and shuddered silently, then headed out to the transport beam. 

Usagi sat at the shrine, alone except for Luna, who was washing her face. "Luna..." "Yes?" "Were you able to find anything else on Sailorborealis?" The cat stopped and jumped up beside Usagi. "Not yet. Artemis is still looking, though." "Do you think we can trust him?" "I don't know." Luna sat down and looked up. "He did help you, right?" "Yes," Usagi replied, watching the blossoms blow past in the wind. "And he even had the chance to kill Haruka, but he didn't." "You told me." Luna disappeared into the sitting room, returning with a small cushion, then hopping onto it relaxedly. "I don't think we have anything to fear from him, unless he becomes a threat. We should probably concentrate on the major enemy at hand...this Eternal Night." "I told you what he said about that, didn't I?" "Yes. Artemis is also cross-referencing that information. Maybe thanks to this Sailorborealis, we'll have the strategy we need to stop them." Rei emerged from the inside of the temple, sitting down beside her two friends. "The fire is quiet today." Usagi nodded. "At least Midnight hasn't attacked anyone else yet." Suddenly, Rei's head throbbed with intense pain, and she let out a shrill scream, collapsing to the ground. Usagi and Luna were instantly at her side. "Rei, are you all right?" Luna looked concerned as Usagi helped Rei back to a sitting position. The priestess massaged her forehead. "I...don't know what happened. It's like I suddenly saw something horrible, but I couldn't actually see it...it really scares me!" "What was it?" Usagi suddenly felt frozen. "I said I couldn't see it!" Rei snapped. Usagi stuck her tongue out. "You didn't have to be so mean about it." Their exchange was cut short by the arrival of their friends, Makoto, Minako, and Ami, all of whom wore concerned expressions on their faces. Ami was the first to speak. "Usagi! Rei! We have to go at once. I've detected a power surge downtown at the science center. I also am detecting some sort of message that's being encoded within a previously unknown frequency." "All right." Usagi stepped forward and lifted her amulet to begin the transformation, but Luna spoke to stop her. "Don't you think it would be less suspicious if you just go down there as regular girls, just in case there isn't anything wrong?" She nodded. "You're right, Luna." The group made their way off just as Artemis woke and joined his future wife. "What's up?" Artemis looked after the departing girls. "It's another attack. Seems like they're happening more and more often, with stronger and stronger foes." "They'll win." Artemis yawned again and began to wash his face. 

Midnight walked casually in, dressed sharply in a three-piece suit, his long black hair slicked back on his head and pulled into a smart ponytail. He grinned from ear to ear as he looked around, taking every precaution to avoid detection. He stepped silently out of the booth again, scratching his chin absently, and he looked around, his eyes meeting with those of a tall woman. Thinking quickly, he chuckled and bowed. "Good afternoon, miss. Could you tell me, perhaps, where the station manager is?" She crossed her arms. "That would be me. And you are...?" "I'm Midnight...from the main office. Time for yearly inspection again!" He smiled charmingly, presenting a sheet of typed information. The woman took it and looked it over skeptically. "I wasn't informed." "We thought it would be best if we just got it over with and didn't bother you. You understand, surely." "I don't." She tossed the paper back at him. "Get out." "Excuse me?" He raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised but not shaken. "I said get out. You're not from our main office or any other office, and I don't suffer intruders kindly. If you don't get out now, I'll have no choice but to call security." Midnight grinned and slipped his jacket off, unbuttoning his vest slowly. "I'm sorry you said that..." 

The five girls stood at the front desk, all with frustrated looks on their faces. "Why are they taking so long?" Rei leaned on the empty desk, looking back into the office. "It's just a tour. It isn't as if any of those people in there are doing anything." "Just wait a minute, Rei...I'm sure they'll get to us soon." Minako looked around, her eyes drifting to a sign for the stairs. "Or...there's always another option..." All of the others looked at her, then followed her gaze to the sign and moved as one towards the door. 

Midnight tossed his button-up shirt on the pile of clothing he had discarded as he adjusted his black bodysuit. "Aah...much more comfortable. I simply can't comprehend how you humans wear those trappings." He walked past the web where the manager was suspended and into the small broadcast room where he had set up his signal beacon. "With this, the energy from all the people watching tonight's news will be taken for the Eternal Night! Then, at last, we can destroy those meddlesome senshi and make our landing, establishing our empire once more..." 

The group of girls hesitated outside the door for the third floor. Makoto held her arms out, barring any of the others from entering. "You know, on the last floor, we were lucky we didn't get caught for moving like this. We should split up so people won't get suspicious." "You're right." Rei looked to Usagi. "Who's going with whom?" The blonde girl considered the options, then nodded, having made her decision. "Rei, you come with me; Mina, Mako, Ami, you form a group. We'll meet up back here in ten minutes, and if the other group isn't there, we'll know you're in trouble." The girls nodded and went their way, then Rei and Usagi made their way to the next floor for their systematic search. 

"No sign of the senshi...good." Midnight turned back to the web and checked his console. "Well, you seem to be progressing nicely. A lot of stress energy...perfect. I think you'll make an excellent monster." At that, he turned a small dial on the hand-held device, and the woman began to metamorphose within the constrains of the web, her body crackling with new energy that threatened to tear it apart. At once, she emerged, totally changed and unrecognizable as the same being. "Go. Destroy all that you can. Any people that you may encounter, absorb their energy. If you run into those senshi... destroy them." It nodded and lumbered off to carry out its destructive orders, leaving Midnight to sit contentedly at the controls, waiting for the hour to come for the nightly news. 

Minako, Makoto, and Ami were having no luck whatsoever in finding anything of importance, having searched the entire third floor. At last, Makoto looked back at the door to the stairs. "I know it's early, but there's nothing here. Maybe we can cover the fifth floor too..." Minako nodded. "That'll be all of them, so we won't have to split up again." As they began to head to the door, an explosion knocked them to the floor. "That came from upstairs!" Ami exclaimed, looking up. "Do you think...?" "Everyone, transform! Now!" Minako reached into her jacket and produced her transformation pen, thrusting it into the air with the words, "Venus Star Power, Make Up!" "Mercury Star Power, Make Up!" "Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!" The three girls began, each surrounded by their own individual energy and suddenly garbed in their special fuku that designated them as the sailor senshi for their planet. As the sequence concluded, the three girls were no longer their human selves, but instead they were the beautiful warriors, Sailorvenus, Sailormercury, and Sailorjupiter! "Let's go! Usagi's in trouble!" Venus led the way out to the stairs. 

"Look at this, Rei! A new Sailor V game..." Usagi held up a bunch of papers, most of which gently fell to the floor, unnoticed by her. "Usagi! You're not supposed to be looking through the news! We're here to find Midnight." "I know, but..." "Usagi!" The girl sighed and replaced the papers on the desk, continuing her search of the studio. Suddenly, the entire floor shook with a deafening blast. "What was that?" Usagi picked herself up off the floor. Rei pushed off from the camera she had braced herself upon and squinted, concentrating. "I don't know...we'd better be careful and transform." "Good idea!" Usagi produced her locket, while Rei fished her pen from her purse. "Moon Tidal Make Up!" "Mars Star Power, Make Up!" In a flash of light, the two girls had vanished, and in their places were the mythical senshi, Sailormars and Sailormoon. They headed out to the hallway, neither believing the sight before them; a hideous creature loomed from floor to ceiling, bracing itself with its numerous insectlike legs. From its pincer mouth, smoke poured out... it was apparent that this creature had caused the earth-shattering explosion. "Hold it right there!" Sailormoon stepped forward. Before she could continue, the creature scuttled toward the two, screaming ominously as it advanced. Sailormoon could barely move from intense fear of the horrific creature, but she braced herself and lashed out with her scepter. The scream was ear-splitting, and Sailormoon was flung out of the way as if she were little more than a paper doll. Mars leaped into action immediately, attacking at close range with a vicious rage within her. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" She released the arrow into the body of the insectoid, slamming it back into exploding flames against the far wall. The priestess hurried over to her best friend and shook her by the shoulders. "Usagi! USAGI!!!" Suddenly, Mars felt a presence behind her and looked up...the hideous thing was towering over her, poised with its claws to surely slay the two of them. She closed her eyes, hoping for a swift end, but it was one that would not arrive. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Mars felt the creature being blown over her, into the studio again, and she immediately stood and raced to the door, pulling it securely shut. She slid a small umbrella into it that she had found lying on the floor, obviously blown out from one of the offices. "That's not going to hold for long," she remarked, then turned to the others. "How is she?" "She's fine, just a bit dazed..." Venus was helping Sailormoon to her feet. The princess nodded. "I'm all right...just knocked the wind out of me. Where is it?" "It's in there." Mars gestured towards the studio. "Right." Sailormoon advanced on the door. "I wonder if I could try to do this out here?" She lifted her rod and shouted out the words so necessary to her beautiful attack. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" Instantly, the twin crescents paired up and split, then reunited within the studio, enveloping the creature within a full moon, which then rippled like a fountain and dissipated, revealing the battered form of a middle-aged woman in a smart dress. "You did it, Sailormoon!" Jupiter patted her friend on the shoulder, and all the senshi cheered. Suddenly, Rei's head began to throb again, and she nearly doubled over in pain. The others rushed to her side. "Rei, what's wrong?" Sailormoon looked into her friend's eyes. Mars gritted her teeth and fell to her knees. "You've got...to stop...Midnight...don't worry...about...me..." "But Rei..." "GO!" Her voice resonated with an unearthly energy, and then she totally collapsed. "Mina, stay here with her...the rest of you, come with me!" The princess clutched her rod protectively and led the others to the stairs. 

"So you've come." "Yes." The vague outline of a man was just visible from where Midnight was sitting, watching. "Midnight, you've got to stop this. The Eternal Night will not reward you for your actions, they'll kill you." Midnight crossed his legs languidly and stretched. "Oh? And if I succeed?" "They'll kill you anyway. Remember Arika?" That name seemed to strike a definite chord, and the dark-haired man sprang to his feet. "What do you know about Arika???" Sailorborealis stepped out of the shadows. "I know that she was killed by the Eternal Night. Murdered, because she dared to approach the Great Night...because she opposed the wholesale slaughter of a planet." "M..my...sister..." Midnight sank to his knees. "How do I know...you're not lying?" "You have to trust me. But rest assured, you will die if you remain with the Eternal Night." Borealis put a calming hand on Midnight's shoulder, but it was slapped away instantly. "Please...we used to be close. I don't want to lose you like you lost Arika." Midnight stood, gritting his teeth with a frown. "YOU LIE!" He unleashed an incredible amount of energy, blasting the senshi before him into the wall of instrumentation across the room. Borealis fell to the floor, silent and unmoving. "What have I done...?" Midnight sank again to his knees, and the air behind him began to ripple. "Stop right there!" A voice called out from the doorway. "I'm here to foil your evil plans, Midnight!" "We fight for love and justice!" Jupiter chimed in. "And on behalf of the Moon, we'll punish you!" Sailormoon led the others in chorus. Midnight climbed to his feet again. "I'll destroy you, meddling senshi!" He tossed a sphere of energy at the group, blowing the three of them away from each other and to a different part of the room. Jupiter was the first to her feet, and she instantly took the offensive. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Electric leaves shot out at Midnight, and as he watched them approach, he saw Borealis moving, just out of the corner of his eye. His brief hesitation was more than enough for him to be struck by the shocking assault, and he crumpled to the floor with a pathetic scream. "We did it!" Sailormoon was ecstatic, jumping up and down with utter joy. Mercury began to work with the instruments near where Midnight had fallen, and she activated her visor as she labored tirelessly with the alien technology that had been fused into the many buttons and dials. "I think...I've just about got it!" The clock on the wall advanced forth, as the time for the news broadcast drew ever closer... "YES!" She smiled and ripped out the black tendrils from the panel. "There. That's another plan by the Eternal Night foiled!" Sailormoon hurried over to where Midnight had fallen, and she raised her rod high above her head. "Now we can heal him! SPINNING MOON..." Her attack went unfinished, as the rippling behind her tore into the room. Stray bolts went flying, one striking the princess squarely in the chest and sending her sprawling onto the ground as she tripped over the fallen villain's body. "Sailormoon!" The other two chorused, hurrying to her side. They both froze as tendrils of pure darkness wrapped around them, paralyzing their bodies. Jupiter stared intently at the hole in time and space, and Ami concentrated on Sailormoon, hoping that the senshi's leader would be protected somehow. A completely black figure emerged from the hole, warping the room around where it stood, casting the shadow of blackest night on everything. It seemed to be garbed in some sort of noble garb, but the darkness of the form made it impossible to tell. "You have failed me for the last time, Midnight." It spoke with a terrifying, distorted voice, as if its true voice could not be heard in this dimension. It raised its hand, which began to crackle with the same energy that had felled Sailormoon, and it prepared to descend... "BOREALIS BOLT!" The figure was knocked off its feet as Sailorborealis's light beam sliced through the energy and plunged into the form's chest. The male senshi rushed to Midnight and scooped him up, carrying the man away from danger. At once, Jupiter and Mercury were free and moved to stop the new arrival. "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" The two attacks pummelled the figure, already weakened by the other senshi's brutal assault, and it stumbled backwards, towards the rip it had created in the room. Sailormoon stirred, attempting to rise, and then a gleam sparkled in the creature's eye as it focused on her. "You will die...INSTEAD!" It extended its hand at her, a solid beam exploding out, crashing through the room, pushing the other senshi back against the walls as the figure vanished through the hole. Sailormoon was paralyzed, unable to move from the spot, and she closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable... A scream echoed through the room as the blast struck, but the princess was safe. As she opened her eyes, she saw Midnight, slipping to the floor, a charred mark on his bodysuit. "Midnight...?" "NO!!!" Borealis ran forth and cradled the dark-haired man in his arms. "Sailormoon...please...?" She shakily stood and nodded, thrusting her rod into the air. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" At once, the staff projected twin crescent moons which split and then reunited around Midnight, forming a full moon around him which flickered away with a single disrupting drop...as the image faded, Borealis looked down into the eyes of a man whose agony had been taken from him, who no longer was torn by his loyalty. "He'll be all right...as long as I can get him to my healing center." Borealis lifted the man into his arms. "Sailormoon...thank you..." She smiled. "No, thank Midnight...he saved my life." With that, Borealis vanished as quickly as he had arrived, and the princess looked at the other senshi, still smiling. However, within her mind, she was troubled by Rei's prediction. Nothing truly tragic had happened on that day; in fact, only joy could be claimed, for even Midnight had survived and been turned to the side of good. Something was going to happen...Usagi shivered at the thought. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The shapeless figure spoke at last. "You will go to Earth and succeed where your predecessor failed. We must secure the points of fracture if we are to crush the resistance." The woman silently nodded and made her way to the small column, where she vanished in a dark twinkling.*** 

Attack from the Eternal Night! City Covered in Darkness. 

The sun crept over the horizon and light filtered into the bedroom as Midnight's eyes began to flutter open. The handsome, dark-haired man groaned slightly, then looked around him...this certainly was not the television station he had remembered. "Where...am I...?" He managed to mutter, and a voice promptly answered him. "You are in my home..." He looked up, and standing before him was the man who fought alongside Sailormoon as the senshi Sailorborealis. He fought back the instinct to run, and the man approached, carrying a tray laden with breakfast and tea. "Here, don't try to move." Borealis gently settled the man down into the bed, holding his bare shoulders and tucking the sheets around them. "I've brought you breakfast." Midnight stared up into the eyes of his once-protector, the man he had thought he would be close to forever, and he smiled, sincerely happy for the first time in as long as he could remember. "Kari..." Borealis blinked. "You remember my name...?" The dark-haired man smiled. "I remember many things now..." Their gaze was electric, not faltering for a second, as, unblinking, each looked at the other, desire from times long past resurfacing inexorably. At last, they had been reunited rather than forced to struggle on opposing sides. 

Usagi sat pensively on her bed, writing in a small notebook. It was apparent to tell her mind was elsewhere as she absently chewed on the end of her pencil. She looked around the room, the warning flashing through her head...Rei knew that something would happen to the senshi, a tragedy would befall them, but when? And to whom? Usagi had to know. She brushed some hair from her forehead and sighed, scribbling on the pad, then gasped at what she saw: on the lined paper was a sketch of a dark city, clasped by a dark, gnarled claw from which a black web stretched. 

The raven-haired priestess stared at the fire intently...it was only a matter of time before it revealed what she needed to know, of that she was confident. However, three hours of scrying had made little difference so far, and Rei was contemplating a long break to go and make sure that her princess was all right. She leaned back, wiping some of the sweat from her forehead, and still glanced absently into the fire. It flickered and reached to the roof practically, and she felt its passion within. There was a power to the fire that even she as Sailormars could not adequately express, something so intrinsic to it that one would have to pledge one's life to the cause of it to see. The girl smiled, and then suddenly her expression faded to that of grave seriousness. In the fire she glimpsed a figure being torn apart as if by wild animals...gasping involuntarily, Rei leaned forward to peer farther into the wild, roaring flame, but it yielded nothing. All she knew was that there would be a grave, violent death and that she could do nothing to prevent it. If only I knew more about it, she thought, I could do something to stop it from happening. She rose slowly, apprehensively, and chanced a final look at the ever-dancing flames in the chamber as she left it, sliding the door back to allow her egress. There was nothing more in the fire today, nothing that would allow her to even make an educated guess as to the identity of the tragic victim of this violent act. All she could do was wait and hope that the fire would be more revealing tomorrow. She took in a breath of fresh, cool air and surveyed the area; there was nobody in sight, so she presumed that she was totally alone at the shrine for the time being. The wind blew lightly, and Rei looked up, smiling and glad to see the blue sky and white clouds once more. Noticing some movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned, her hands ready with a scroll. Immediately upon noticing who it was, she relaxed and smiled. "Usagi...you're back." The blonde girl nodded and looked around. "Rei, I...need to talk with you for a while about something." "Sure...come in." Rei immediately led her friend around to the small sitting room where they usually talked; Usagi obediently followed the other girl's lead and seated herself at the table. "What's wrong?" Usagi took out the small piece of paper from her pocket and carefully unfolded it, then slid it across to Rei, who looked at it and then at Usagi, her question unspoken but clear. "I just found myself drawing it. I don't know why." The girl sighed. "I don't understand it, but I thought you might be able to help me make it more clear." "I've never seen anything like it," Rei admitted, turning the paper to different angles for greater examination. "Not even in the fire today. But this is really strange, Usagi...maybe it's a portent of an event yet to come..." "Did you find out any more about the...tragedy?" Rei shook her head. "No. Unfortunately I haven't been able to see anything more about it." The priestess decided not to reveal what little she had seen until she was more clear on the matter. "I'd advise you to stay either here or with the other senshi until this whole matter clears up. I don't want it to be you." "But Rei, I can't." Usagi looked crestfallen. "And not every plot is against me. I'm sure Luna can be enough..." "I wouldn't count on it..." "Rei..." "I'm just being realistic, Usagi...Luna's pure and kind, but she can't defeat this alone...she can't even slow it down. You can't endanger both your lives just because you don't want to accept help from us!" Usagi sighed to herself. On one hand, she felt that Rei was being unfair and overly critical, like usual, but on the other hand she knew that, also as usual, Rei's criticisms were founded in love and care for her best friend. She wasn't about to let that consideration go to waste. "You're right, Rei. I'll try and arrange it with Mom so that I can have you over more." "Good, we'll be with you at all times. I'm not going to let this Eternal Night take you, Usagi." She hugged Usagi tightly, in a gesture that surprised Usagi with its suddenness, but the girl simply returned her friend's smile and nodded. "Thanks, Rei." "Hey, that's what friends are for..." Suddenly, a crack from within the shrine caused both of them to jump, and the priestess was the first up and into the fire chamber, aghast at the sight that awaited her: the once-blazing fire in the middle of the room was almost totally dead, little sparks barely qualifying as a flame. Rei produced a scroll and began her chant, while Usagi scanned the room for intruders or any sort of alien presence; she failed, and her friend flung the scroll at the fire. While the two watched, the fire first seemed to die altogether, but then it rushed back, as if fighting for its right to exist. It was at that moment that Rei began to perceive the threat, and she turned to Usagi. "We have to transform, now, and help the fire! I think I'm beginning to see what your picture means..." Usagi nodded and opened her brooch, proclaiming the words, "Moon Tidal Make Up!" "Mars Star Power, Make Up!" At once, the two were engulfed in flowing energy as they floated through space in an instant, their clothes transformed into the majestic garb of the sailor senshi, guardians of the solar system from the evil forces of the universe. The sparkling transformation faded slowly, and where the two girls once stood now were two beautiful warriors. "I am Sailormoon, champion of justice and warrior of love. On behalf of the Moon, I will punish you!" She quickly removed her tiara and flung it at the dark, crackling figure near the hearth. "MOON TIARA ACTION!" At once, the creature dissipated, and the fire once more resumed its normal vitality. "We did it, Rei!" The other girl was not so easily convinced. "I don't know, Usagi..." Suddenly, Sailormoon was trapped, paralyzed within a devastating web of pure darkness. Mars gasped as she witnessed the event, almost in slow motion, and found herself powerless to stop it. "Sailormoon!" The evil thing was cackling, as if to flaunt the fact that it held the might Moon Princess in its grasp, and it slowly crept back towards the fire, using her as its hostage and shield. How arrogant of me to think that we could handle it alone, Mars thought, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. I can't believe that, it was a stupid mistake. In her mind, the scene she had witnessed before came raging back before her eyes. Yes, the darkness could easily rip Sailormoon apart with its barbed limbs that stretched like a web around her...could this be the hideous tragedy that she had seen and yet found herself doubting? And now, suddenly, it was reality before her: the possibility of Sailormoon's death was very real and it was standing in her temple. 

Venus lashed out with her chain, whipping it viciously around the nearest web creature. She then augmented her assault with a beam of pure energy, almost totally dissipating the would-be assailant. "Got it!" She briefly hesitated before returning to the hopeless battle and looked around at her comrades, who were faring little better. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Jupiter spun around and flung electric leaves at the webs, which flashed instantly and vanished for the moment, leaving the girl drained but steeled to fight on. A wave of frozen destruction exploded from the other side of the stairway leading up to Hino Shrine as a familiar voice called out, "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" More webs fell, but seemingly unending numbers were flowing from the strange, expanding web that marred the once-beautiful blue sky. "We've got to go make sure she's all right!" Jupiter buried her fist in one of the creatures' faces. "They could both be in danger!" "You're right, but we can't...we're stuck here!" Venus let out a crescent beam shower, then stumbled alongside Jupiter to fight with her. "If only we could stop their advance for a moment..." "I'll hold them off, you two go up and help Sailormoon!" Mercury rushed up, activating her visor and computer. "I've calculated a pattern, and I should be able to stop them for the time you need." Sensing that they were about to speak, she cut them off. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Even if they do overwhelm me, you'll be there to help me by then, right?" Her cheerful outlook won them over, and Venus and Jupiter let out one last attack, then both rushed up the stairs as one, while Mercury prepared herself for an all-out defensive strike. 

Midnight sipped his tea on the patio overlooking the beautiful sea and dreamed of the way his world once was: Kari and he once planned to sail that sea and discover the land on the other side of it, as well as to establish their own fort just in the trees above their houses. Not only that, he mused, but they also proposed to link them by way of rope ladder, and that was the most hilarious part of all; neither of them was able to secure any rope for either the fort or the ladder, and so the whole idea fell apart. Much like my life, Midnight reflected. I used to be Kage the strong, Kage the admired, Kage the loved, and I gave it up...for what? A king that deceived me more than anything else. And at least Kari had the right idea, at least he was going to defend the Moon Princess and perish honorably, to give a good name to Aurora. The planet pushed itself through the dimensions...oh Aurora! In his mind, Midnight wrestled with guilt. I was the one that caused it. It was all my fault... "No it wasn't," a familiar voice assured, calling from the french doors. Looking up, Midnight found his eyes met by Kari's. "Kage...you caused nothing. It was the Eternal Night that made Aurora vanish too soon. Not you." Kage nodded. "I suppose so." He sighed, still introspective. "I only wish we could return as easily as it left us." "Perhaps one day, we shall..." the other man sat, sipping his own tea, freshly-poured and still steaming from the pot. "Until then, I have committed myself to a cause." "The Moon Princess, yes...she seems to have accounted herself well in the face of opposition. The Dark Kingdom, Neherenia, the Black Moon, the Dead Moon, even Galaxia herself was no match for Sailormoon's power..." "Very true..." Kari stared out at the sparkling ocean, but then he looked up at the sky. "Kage, get inside...I don't want you to be hurt." "What...?" The dark-haired man pushed out his chair and sat his cup down, following the other's gaze. "What's going on?" "It's the Eternal Night!" Kari pushed Kage toward the doors. "You must hide, or else they'll find you, and I can't let them do that...I can't lose you so..." His thought was cut abruptly short as one of the black webs knocked the two against the far wall, nearly beating them unconscious. Kari was the first up, thrusting toward the throng of creatures that had gathered for battle. "Aurora Planet Power, Make Up!" At once, his regular garb flashed into nothingness and his body became pure energy, and then cosmic rays exploded forth at angles to his form, becoming his costume as they poured onto his body. He swirled around in the ether that had nearly solidified around him and clenched his fists, staring like steel at the webbed mob before him. "Like the eternal light that balances your endless destruction, I come to defend this galaxy's true light...I am the graceful Sailorborealis!" He extended his hands out, as if preparing to project, and at once he released a formidable explosion from his palms with the words, "BOREALIS BOLT!!!" It rammed through the intruders, blowing them apart upon contact and rendering the rest impotent, forcing them to return back to their place of origin. As Borealis retreated with the intent of returning to help Kage, he was met by the sight of Midnight, in black armor that sparkled menacingly. Borealis cursed within to himself at not being more thorough, and Midnight saw the self-blame that was so apparent. "I'm not theirs yet, my love." Midnight winked at Borealis, and instantly the senshi relaxed, cracking a smile. "I still have my powers, and I don't intend to relinquish them quite so easily." Borealis grinned and extended his hand, which Midnight took at once. The iridescent-haired man stared out at the web that gathered to a nexus at Tokyo tower. "We've got to strike at once, or else both Sailormoon and this world are finished...but we've got a stop to make first..." 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***Legendary Phase Sailormoon struggled as the hideous weblike darkness paralyzed her movement; Mars looked on in horror as she suddenly realized that this may be the moment she had witnessed so many times before, in the fire, where a loved one is ripped apart, savagely...at once, Mars knew that there was only one outcome possible if she was not able to defeat this horrible creature, and that was something she was not prepared to accept. With growing resolve, she spread her arms out, palms out at her sides, and began to chant...*** 

Defenders of the Moon in Peril! The Outer Senshi Strike at Last. 

"BURNING MANDALA!" The girl in the red fuku tossed her head back and her arms forward dramatically, and instantly she was surrounded by flying shards of flaming energy that slashed at the web around her future queen. Sailormoon screamed, clearly in agony from the blows that had struck her, but the web had been severed, and it attempted to restore itself behind her, but Mars was too quick; chanting once more, she flung another scroll at it, and this was too much, as it disintegrated into nothingness. Mars rushed over to Sailormoon. "Are you all right? I'm sorry, but that was the only way...!" "I know, I know..." The stunning princess nodded and shakily picked herself up. "We've got to get to the others... I hope they haven't been hurt by these monsters!" The two rushed outside, where they were immediately met by the sight of two other senshi, Sailorvenus and Sailorjupiter, who smiled upon seeing that their teammates were well. "Sailormoon!" Venus rushed forward. "We were afraid you two might've been captured by the Eternal Night. Are you okay?" "I'm fine...Mars saved me." Sailormoon smiled and Mars, in a moment of selflessness, blushed modestly. "Where's Mercury?" Jupiter started back towards the stairs down to the street. "We left her back there! We've got to get back and help her...!" The four sprinted down the steep stairway, only to find their cerebral teammate resting at the bottom of the steps. "Mercury! But there were so many of those things down here..." Jupiter looked around, finding nothing in the immediate area. "How...?" Mercury smiled and got to her feet as quickly as if she had not fought at all. "Simple. I just scrambled their perception of Tokyo Tower, which is where I'm sure they're coming from. Once I was able to isolate them from it, they weakened, and from then it was a simple matter just to eliminate them." Sailormoon smiled at Mercury and then turned to the others. "I guess, then, we're going to have to go to Tokyo Tower now." "It's the only way to find out who's behind this." Mars stepped forward. "And whoever it is, I'm not letting them get away with it! The fire is sacred, and I don't take kindly to people trying to put it out!" "That's right, and Tokyo Tower is a beautiful landmark!" Venus also advanced. "We've got to protect it!" "We didn't do so well last time..." Jupiter reminded them, and the two sweatdropped. "Well...uh..." Venus blinked and then came up with the perfect response. "That's more reason to try harder this time!" Mercury sighed a bit, smiling. "I hope you mean that. Last time it was very difficult trying to put the blame on that musical group's publicity stunt." "You won't have to do that any more, Mercury!" Sailormoon led the way. "We're going to have them defeated before they know what hit them!" With that, the five warriors set out toward the center of the city. 

"It has been too long," the tall, emerald-haired woman said to Borealis as the group stood: Pluto, Saturn, Borealis, and Midnight. The man with iridescent hair nodded. "Yes, that it has." With an almost melancholy expression, he stared vaguely off, towards Tokyo Tower. "I wish we had been able to save Aurora. For this universe, at least." Saturn stood silent, facing Midnight, and the two observed the exchange with some interest, but it was also just as obvious that both were totally lost as to the subject matter of their conversation; even though Midnight had been there, he had never known about the link between Sailorpluto and Sailorborealis. "We did try." Pluto sighed, following her former friend's gaze toward the black-webbed tower in the distance. "That is all we could have been asked." The male senshi stood almost unsurely for a moment, then nodded silently. "Yes, you're right. And I'm sure you know there is something more I must ask." She nodded, and he continued. "We must save them. They're in over their heads, and if anything should happen..." Pluto nodded and turned to Saturn, who raised her glaive and directed the point at Tokyo Tower. 

Sailorjupiter fell, too, around her Princess as the senshi faced off against the cruel woman garbed in darkness; the sinister foe was garbed in greys and blacks, her raven hair less lustrous than Mars's and her dark eyes flecked with the magic of her cruelty rather than an inner light. "I am the night's Fury! Beware of my power, for it shall be your undoing!" She hurled a flurry of dark tendrils at Sailormoon, who gracefully avoided them, scanning the observation deck: the other four who had come with her were strung up, bound tightly in those same tendrils attached to Fury, held fast and prevented from aiding her should they awaken. Sailormoon felt her heart fall as Fury extended her hand and her eyes glinted in a dim moonlight; the servant of darkness barked out her attack: "VELVET DARKNESS!" and at once dark tendrils shot forward, at the blond-haired princess, who could do nothing but close her eyes in anticipation of the event... It was a moment that never arrived; instantly light flashed before her eyes and at once a blade whistled through the air, severing the tendrils before they could extend any farther. Fury collapsed, screaming in agony. Sailorsaturn led the other three with her to their princess's side as they turned to her, making certain she would be all right for the oncoming struggle. As they were distracted, the villainess took her opportunity, though still wracked with pain. She lashed out with rays of darkness, smashing into Pluto, Saturn, and Borealis, sending them flying forward onto their faces, but Midnight wheeled around in his dark garb and smirked at the woman. "Midnight..." she gasped, putting her hand instinctively over her mouth as she quickly got to her feet. "I thought you were dead...!" "Looks like you'll have to finish the job!" He leaped through the air and flung multiple spheres of darkness at her, which exploded around the woman's head, binding her with black chains similar to her own; she struggled in vain, and Midnight grinned, retreating to check on his new allies. "I've got her stopped for the time being...care to finish this?" Borealis groaned and picked himself up. "I'd be glad to...tend to the princess..." The senshi of light flickered in the clouds of darkness, his inner luminesence pulsating outward as his mouth spoke the words of his most powerful assault against the forces of the Eternal Night: "AURORA VARIATION!!!" At once, blinding light flowed through the room, waves of pure light sparkling like an ocean let forth into Tokyo Tower. Fury screamed as if for her life and shrunk to the corners of the room, still struggling to totally free herself from Midnight's bonds...but it was too late to stop the brunt of Borealis's attack, and she slumped forward, barely catching herself with her arms. "You haven't...won...I'll return...and you'll be...destroyed...!" "Sure you will." He glanced around. "Sailormoon...?" She nodded, clutching her rod, and spun around. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!!!" Fury shrieked, attempting a quick portal to return herself to the Eternal Night. "Nooo!!! You can't!" The twin moons sparkled as they cut through the air between the Moon Princess and the acolyte of darkness, and when they met, the sphere flashed...and fluttered...but did not ripple. Instead, it exploded open, and before the assembled senshi was an entirely different woman. She was much like before...with hair as black as soot and eyes to match, deathly pale skin...but now she was garbed in silver, a dress off her shoulders, dangling down to her ankles, where the straps were fastened for the shoes that covered her feet. "Sailormoon..." her otherworldly voice intoned, "I have to thank you. For some reason...through some way...your moon power has altered me... strengthened me...in different ways, yes...but I will use the power to destroy you!" She extended her hand again. "VELVET SHADOW!" Before they could move, the entire group was bound and unable to move at all. Silent and looking on in horror, they could all see that this new incarnation of Fury had only one goal in mind: the complete death of the senshi. She clenched her fist, and the tendrils of blackness tightened around their necks; she was enjoying every second, drinking in the pain and terror of her captives as she prepared to deliver the finishing blow. Just then, a voice rang out from the deck above, and as it did so, two figures leaped down, landing gracefully behind Fury. "CHRONOS TYPHOON!" Fury wheeled around, but it was too late to avoid this attack as well, and she was blown totally off the deck and plunged, screaming, to the unrelenting ground below. As soon as she was out of sight, her inhibiting coils released their hold on the six restrained warriors, who immediately fell to the floor. Borealis looked up with a smile. "Just in the nick of time, as always, Pluto..." She smiled down at him, silent but satisfied that they had been able to stop Fury's plans, at least for the time being. Saturn spoke up at last. "We must disconnect her machine. If we do not, the web of darkness will spread unchecked." Pluto nodded, and she accompanied the younger warrior to higher on the tower, leaving Borealis to tend to the inner senshi. He immediately went over to where Sailormoon had fallen and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right, Princess...?" She looked up. "Yes...yes, I'm fine..." Seeing his satisfaction, she fell silent, then as he started over towards the others, she continued. "Borealis...?" "Yes?" He looked back around at her. "Thank you." The expression on his face became the warmest she had ever seen as he winked at her and smiled, continuing to check on the others, beginning with Venus. 

As the five close companions left Tokyo Tower, they could see a group of four figures atop it, where the web of darkness once began, but where now only flashed the lights that always did so on the tower's summit. Usagi turned back to the group. "I'm glad that Sailorborealis helped us again...I hope we see him more often." She looked up hopefully again at the tower, but the four had vanished by then. "He reminds me of Mamoru..." Makoto looked up. "Speaking of Mamoru, where has he been? He hasn't shown up at all during the last few battles...in fact, I haven't seen him in over two weeks, even in normal clothes." "I don't know..." Usagi looked troubled. "I presumed that he was just busy fighting them on his own, but now...I don't know. He's never home, and he doesn't call." "Well, if something didn't happen to him, he's in trouble." Rei clenched her fists. "Nobody treats my friend that way!" "Rei, calm down, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation." Venus patted the priestess on her head. "Maybe Chibi-Usa's back? Remember, Pluto sensed a disturbance in time earlier..." "I think he would've told me...at least, I hope so..." Usagi looked more despondent than before as the group walked along. "I think she would've come to me first, anyway, since I am her mother and all..." Everyone else sweatdropped momentarily. "Anyway, she knows I love her too, even though we disagree at times." Usagi scratched her head. "I have no idea what could've happened to stop Mamoru from calling me..." "Perhaps he's just been busy, like you said, Usagi." Ami smiled comfortingly. "Maybe you should go over to his apartment and make sure." Usagi nodded. "You're right...that's a good idea. I'll do that tonight...!" 

The blonde girl walked into the apartment complex and quickly climbed the stairs up to the right floor, then went to the door and knocked, quietly. "Mamoru?" she called, still unsure of herself. "Are you there, love?" She knocked again, more insistently this time. "Mamoooo??? Mamoru? I need to see you! Come on, Mamoru, answer the door!" She began to whine. "I wanna see you tonight!!! Answer the doooooorrrr...!!!" She sighed and produced the key from her pocket, then slowly unlocked the door and pushed it open, scanning the immediate area for any sign of life. Finding none, she continued into the main room, shutting the door behind her and locking it once more. "Mamoru...?" No answer came, and she switched on a light, sighing and looking around at the decor. It was somewhat different that she had remembered. Apparently Mamoru had done some redecorating in the time since she had last been inside his apartment; it was somewhat more glum and barren...he had removed so many of the beautiful decorations and accents in favor of blank space. Perhaps, she thought, he was in the middle of putting new ones up. Or...? No. That was too awful to even consider. That he had moved away and not told her? That he was running away from his future commitment? Usagi had heard of cold feet, but never anything of this sort. Not moving away on a moment's notice...well, actually, no notice at all! She felt the warm tears trickle down her cheeks as she started to sob nervously, desperately, losing herself in her despair. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***Usagi woke up in an empty room, unable to face the seeming fact that her beloved fiance Mamoru had disappeared without a trace and without any notification to her or her friends. Not a sign of him was to be found, and Usagi denied deep within herself what was so plain to her eyes, what she knew she had to accept.*** 

Missing Tuxedo Mask! The five begin their plan. 

The four inner senshi, minus their leader, sat inside their usual gathering room at the temple, each in deep thought. Rei poured up the tea and passed each girl a cup full, then pushed the plate of Makoto's homemade cookies into the middle of the table. "I still can't believe it," commented Minako, absently taking one of the cookies and munching. "We've got to do something about this, or else Usagi won't be able to fight against the Eternal Night at all." Ami looked up. "I agree, but what? Not even my computer can find any trace of Tuxedo Mask in the area, or Mamoru for that matter. He's nowhere to be found. Maybe he was kidnapped!" "I don't know, but I get a bad feeling that this has something to do with my vision." Rei sipped her tea gingerly, looking gravely out at the others. "We're going to have to find him, one way or another, or else there's going to be a worse problem than what excuse he's going to give Usagi." "You're right, Rei...he could be in serious trouble!" Makoto looked up and out at the others. "We've got to think of some way to simultaneously comfort Usagi and face the reality of the situation. And we've got to find Mamoru before something awful happens." The priestess nodded silently, staring into her tea. "But what? The only resources we have are our own. We can't even ask the outer senshi for their help, since they're choosing to isolate themselves again. Mamoru's gone, so he can't help in his own disappearance...this new senshi, Sailorborealis..." "That's it!" Ami's face lit up as an idea became realized in her mind. "I have an idea how we can at least keep Usagi at an acceptably calm level while some of us organize a search for Mamoru. Let me explain..." 

A short time later, the senshi were once again embroiled in a fight against a darkness-created youma, this one from an unknown source. Since Fury had plunged off of Tokyo Tower, apparently to her death, the senshi had given little thought as to the identity of the new acolyte from the Eternal Night, but it was apparent one was at least at work now. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Jupiter screamed as she spun around, spheres of electric destruction flying out at the creature and hitting it head-on. As it crashed back into a building's stone perimeter gate, Mars was the next to strike. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" She pulled back the arrow and let it fly, pinning the monster to the spot. Jupiter spun around to face her princess. "Sailormoon, now!" She nodded and extended her hand; instantly her rod appeared before her, and she clutched it tightly. Her golden hair shimmered in the dim night light of the waning moon as she spun around with the words of her powerful attack: "SPINNING MOON RE..." At that moment, the monster seemed to draw power from an otherworldly source and leapt free from the flame sniper, crashing free from the collapsing wall, slashing at the nearest senshi, who was Mars. "Sailormoon!" The raven-haired senshi quickly dodged and kicked at the savage creature with her pointed high-heel shoes, unable to get enough distance for a proper attack. The princess was paralyzed to the spot by both fear and despair, the confusion and frustration of the past few days finally reaching her heart. At once things were crystal-clear and thick as fog, and she felt as if it would be an eternity before she would be able to act. Jupiter turned, as if to question her actions, but reliably, she saw a sparkle out of the corner of her eyes and instead turned to face it. The bold uniform of their new comrade-in-arms, the senshi of light, came into her field of vision, and at once all eyes were on him. "BOREALIS BOLT!" He projected a blast of energy with his palms together, focusing on the creature, which was driven far into the concrete, still sparkling with light energy. "Sailormoon! Now is the time!" She nodded and began her attack once more, spinning around with her staff. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" As the magickal procedure began, Jupiter and Mars looked at each other and nodded, each one pressing a small signal button on their communicators. In little time at all, the creature had vanished, and a human was sprawled out on the ground where it had been; the man was roughed up a bit but not really harmed at all. Borealis was quick to make his exit, with no word and just a simple, quick wave to signify his exit. Sailormoon moved forward to stop him, but just as she stepped, he was gone, as silently and rapidly as he had arrived. 

As the male senshi descended into the small garden behind the almost-demolished perimeter wall, he quickly made for the back of the building, through the kneeling trees and verdant bushes. Almost at the other side, he found his way blocked by a familiar sight, and he slowed to a full stop. "Sailorvenus...!" His mouth curled into a grin. "What are you doing here?" She nodded behind him, and as he turned he saw Mercury approaching, to join her fellow senshi in front of him. He seemed totally confused by their actions, yet also somewhat amused. "What's this all about?" His grin hardly faded, but instead his eyes now gleamed with the desire for knowledge. Venus smiled winningly and cleared her throat, beginning their story. "Well, this is a long story, but I'm depending on your good nature to help us..." "We really wouldn't ask this if it wasn't absolutely necessary," chimed in Mercury. "I really hate to bother you." "Don't worry, it's not a bother," he reassured her, quickly amending his claim. "At least, I don't think it is..." "It won't be. Just listen to this quick little story..." Venus smiled and began spinning her tale. 

"I really don't think this is the best idea," Luna protested, draped over Ami's shoulder as she typed in her pocket computer. "Well, we don't have a better one," commented Rei, who was sweeping again, and the others were beginning to think that was her nervous habit. "Besides, it'll at least work for a little while." "I hope so." Luna hopped down to sit beside Ami and look at the monitor. "I don't think I'm going to be able to live with Usagi much longer if she doesn't find out what happened to Mamoru, one way or another." Minako nodded. "I haven't been able to find anything at all, but I'm still looking. There are some petty criminals I still haven't contacted yet." "I don't know why you bother." Makoto was propped against a tree with her eyes closed. "The police do a fine job of that. It's not like they need the help." "Yeah, but I need the practice. Or at least I used to. I was beginning to think you guys would never come to your senses and get back in your uniforms!" Minako grinned, flipping through one of Rei's many manga. "Artemis! Where've you gotten to?" "Right here," called the cat's voice, and Minako turned to find him underneath the walkway, curled happily up. "I'm not coming out, either." "All right, suit yourself." She turned back to the manga and continued, while the group's attention turned back to Ami's findings. The sapphire-haired genius looked up at last and smiled. "I may have some clue as to where he might be...I've got a trace on the Golden Crystal's trail, if not its exact location." "So what happened? Was it the Eternal Night?" Rei propped her broom against the temple wall. "No...at least, I don't think so...I'm beginning to think, more and more, that it was a time disturbance, just like Setsuna said before." "You mean something's changed history?" Makoto approached the others, finally leaving her tree. "Not necessarily so much history as the future's version of it." Ami typed in another quick series on her small computer, then looked back at the others. "Our timeline appears to be fluctuating, as well as our energies. We're being changed, like it or not." "Changed? What do you mean?" "Something's happened, to change things. Crystal Tokyo may or may not happen." "What?" Luna looked up, shocked and amazed. "But if that's true...!" "Yes. That means that Rei's vision may apply to any of us. Unless we can find Setsuna and get her help in finding the source of the time distortion." The group was totally silent; none of them had considered that one of them might be the one in dire danger of being totally annihilated by the forces of the Eternal Night, and in fact they had all simply counted on their survival as granted. Now that they had the evidence right there before them, they would have to accept that any of them could be the one to go. "But...but that means..." Minako was at a loss for words, falling into silence almost immediately. "Ami..." The senshi of water nodded, and the mood was sombre, none daring to speak. At last, the silence was broken by a voice cutting through the air. "Hello, everyone!" They all turned to see Usagi, standing almost cheerful and peeking around the corner at all of them. "What's happening?" Minako smiled pleasantly, admittedly an effort considering the news she had just received, and stood, ushering Usagi over to join the others. As soon as she sat down, her eyes lit up upon seeing Ami's computer. "Have you found Mamo???" Ami bit her lip. What was she going to say? Certainly she could not tell Usagi what she had revealed to the others; in her frame of mind, it might be the final blow to shatter her fragile psyche. "We're still looking...but I think I've found a trace!" "Oh, good!" Usagi was overjoyed. "Where???" Before Ami could answer her, an explosion rocked the surroundings, sending most of the senshi off the walkway and onto the hard ground. Makoto was the first up. "What the...?" "We've got to transform...I sense evil!" Rei stared at the thinly curling plume of smoke that was coming from close by as she shot her hand up in the air. "Mars Star Power, Make Up!" "Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!" "Venus Star Power, Make Up!" "Mercury Star Power, Make Up!" "Moon Tidal Make Up!" The five girls were enveloped in magickal energies and as their clothes were flung away, they were replaced instantly by colorful fuku, each with a color relating to their power and element. In a twinkling, they were garbed anew as the beautiful guardians of love and justice, the sailor senshi. "Let's go!" Sailormoon led the way toward the smoke. 

The creature awaiting them was far from what they had expected: it was a huge mechanoid creature, fitted with guns and explosive cannons that were firing seemingly at random. The smoke, it seemed, had been from one such power discharge. It silently turned to face the assembled quintet and ominously let out steam from its hydraulics, seemingly relaxing slightly. However, as the senshi soon noticed, it was simply an appearance; its largest cannon slid out and aimed directly at them, then prepared to fire, drawing energy for its blast. "No!" Mercury spun around and released a huge cloud of bubbles. "SHABON SPRAY!" The blast still came, and the assembled fighters were knocked off their feet. Her guardians moved toward the prone Sailormoon, who was paralyzed and unmoving... Suddenly a fresh yellow rose flashed through the air in front of the mech, causing it to stumble back, releasing more steam. It turned to face the source of it, as did all the senshi. Their eyes met with a tall figure, shimmering upon a nearby lamppost. Sailormoon gazed dreamily up, her eyes glistening with tears of joy and hope. "Tuxedo Mask...?!" "Er...no." The figure leaped down to where he had tossed the rose, and as he did so his identity became clear. "Sailorborealis!" Mars called out, feigning surprise and smiling that her plan had worked. Borealis winked at her and faced the mech. "You have threatened the innocent with your careless destruction, not to mention having shown tremendous disrespect for a most honorable genre of manga. It cannot be forgiven!" The other senshi sweatdropped as the speech came to a close, and Mars was the first to her feet. "That's right! MARS FLAME SNIPER!" She pulled back the arrow and let it fly...it sailed through the air and plunged deep into the mech's chest, and it exploded with a huge shower of sparks. Instantly it lashed out, exploding forth with a barrage of missiles that exploded into the ground, blowing every senshi present far away from where they were standing. "This thing's invincible!" Jupiter got to her feet and closed her eyes, concentrating her strength. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" As she spun, spheres of electric energy hurled out at the mech, covering it in a web of lightning. It released another explosion, blowing its arm off. "Now, Sailormoon!" Borealis called. "It's your chance!" She nodded and extended her arm, grasping for her staff, which materialized before her, sparkling with silver moonlight. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" As the twin crescent moons shot out before her, the princess seemed to weaken, and when they met, shimmering, she fell to her knees. The ripple dispersed, and when the mech was gone, Sailormoon collapsed unconscious to the ground. Everyone turned towards it and beheld what she had seen: Fury, hovering above the ground, laughing maniacally; her one remaining arm was curled in a grotesque manner and her eyes flashed with dark energy. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***Fury was revealed within the creature as it faded, and Sailormoon collapsed, spent, on the cracked and blasted earth. Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Borealis simply stared at Fury in shock...a foe they thought had died was now back for her revenge.*** 

Tuxedo Mask revealed! A tragic discovery. 

"How...?" Mercury stammered, rushing to her princess. Borealis gasped. "We saw you..." "You saw me fall. You never saw me land." Fury grinned widely, her eyes full of cold fire and destructive zeal. "I found it useful to keep myself hidden for a time." "I didn't think you were that easily defeated, anyway." The senshi of light glared in her direction. "I remember it was much harder last time." "Last...?" "When you tried to destroy Aurora." She seemed to summon forth a previously unknown glee and laughed in her chilling way. "Ah yes...the memories come flooding back now...you were there, weren't you? So long ago, when that pathetic Moon Kingdom was crushed as well? At least your precious planet escaped relatively unscathed." "You destroyed the capital! Killed hundreds of thousands!" Borealis spat, clenching his fists. "For that, you must face the punishment of a thousand years!" He spun around dramatically and crossed his arms diagonally before him, concentrating his power into his chest. His breathing became more and more relaxed, and when his eyes flashed open, they were as full of energy as Fury's, only of the opposite kind. When he spoke his voice was infused with power: "BOREALIS BOLT!" At this attack, however, he did not move as he had in the past; rather than slapping his palms together to project outwards, he instead grasped above his head, as if for something unseen, and then the energy in his palm exploded out, travelling down his arm and covering his body in blinding light. As it seemed to consume his entire form, he extended that arm, and every bit of light flowed out its focus point: his outstretched hand. Fury screamed, but it was too late. As usual, she had moved far too slowly to avoid the attack as the huge pillar of light smashed into her, the spiralling bolts around it flying out indiscriminately. The other senshi took cover from the furious barrage and just stared at their new ally as his latest demonstration proved more shocking than the seeming resurrection of their most mysterious villain. The male senshi collapsed instantly, as if imitating his foe, who was still writhing in agony at the waves of light wracking her body and exploding all over her. Sailormoon was the first out into the battle arena, despite the bolts of light flying around her, detonating upon contact with anything it crashed into: trees, walls, and the ground. She pulled him up to his feet, using a newly-found strength of her own. This seemed a different Sailormoon than the one that had just fallen in despair only moments ago; the resurgence of her inner power caused by concern for an ally had given her renewed reserves of energy upon which she could call. At once, she was joined by Venus and Mars, who helped her support Borealis, and the four made for the relative cover of the nearby rubble that had been provided by the mech's earlier cannon. As they were mere steps away, a bolt crashed into the ground and knocked the Venus and Mars, who were supporting Borealis, fully down; Sailormoon gasped and noticed that another such bolt was flying directly for the three and knew that there was no way they could possibly survive such a blow, defenseless as they were at the moment. She leaped into the air and flung herself in front of the bolt, screaming defiantly at the top of her lungs. Seeing this, Mars shrieked a warning in response: "Princess! NO!!! There's a disruption in time, you might..." She never was able to finish as the blast was deflected by a bullet-fast rose, only this time it was a rich scarlet one. All eyes turned up to the source of it, and this time it was indeed the target of their searches and concern. "Tuxedo Mask!" Sailormoon smiled up in delight. "You're back!" "Yes I am, and I'm glad to see that you're all doing so well!" He descended from the remains of the wall he was on, careful to dodge the flying bolts and help the others to safety behind the rubble. "Tuxedo Mask, where were you?" The princess was now all but hanging off of his neck with her embrace. "I was so worried! It looked like you had moved out and hadn't told me!" He chuckled to himself. "No, it wasn't anything like that. I just had to take some of my things and go temporarily under cover elsewhere in Tokyo, and I couldn't endanger you by letting you know where I was." "What do you mean?" Mars looked annoyed. "We were risking our lives to find you!" "Well, I was trying to find Fury's true base. She was secretly drawing energy from Tokyo's own power reserves, and if I'd told you, then she might think it was you stopping her." "It didn't stop her from attacking," snapped Borealis, holding his forehead. "In fact, it certainly didn't stop much." Tuxedo Mask was taken a bit aback and, after a short pause, found breath enough to protest. "I did stop her energy siphon from getting any more from Tokyo...unfortunately I couldn't return the energy she'd already taken, but at least she doesn't have enough to bring that sphere back." "It would've come back anyway." Borealis got to his feet, shakily, and the other senshi looked on, somewhat surprised at his brusque demeanor that had somehow asserted itself during the past few minutes. "You caused a great deal of worry and almost the psychological collapse of your future wife, and for very little." Mars seemed to agree with him, but Jupiter simply shot him a dirty glance, while Venus and Mercury, at first insulted, found that they had no choice but to agree with him. "That's true." Mercury spoke up in an unusual display of self- assertion. "You didn't have to do that to her. We were all worried she was going to have a breakdown." Tuxedo Mask sighed and knelt before them. "Then I humbly ask your forgiveness...I'm sorry for what I did. I believed it to be appropriate, but I was wrong, apparently..." He looked up at Sailormoon and into her delicate, sparkling sapphire eyes. "Please forgive me..." She was just as surprised at his words as she had been at the other male senshi's only a moment ago, and it took her a second to find the words to adequately express herself. "O-of course...I'd always take you back, Mamoru..." He smiled and rose, and the two once again embraced as the other five looked on, smiling as well. However, their happiness was cut short by their cover, the rubble, being blow apart by a devastating dark energy bolt, and the source, as they saw, was more grotesque than they could have even imagined; Fury was now little more than a decaying corpse, kept alive only by force of will. Her one remaining arm was thinned practically to the bone, and the flesh was almost totally seared off of half her face, revealing a shocking truth. "She's...she's a robot!" Jupiter gaped in amazement. "An android, if you please," Fury squawked. "In fact, the most advanced one in this galaxy. And the one that's about to finish the job she started." "I can't let you do that!" Ever the protector, Tuxedo Mask stepped before his beloved and the other senshi assembled, flinging a razor-sharp rose at the metallic woman. It plunged deep into the creature's chest, producing little more than a flow of a thick viscous liquid, somewhat like blood. Fury's mouth curled into a terrifying, hideous parody of a smile. "You think you can kill me? I've taken this much damage and yet I'm still here. It will take much more than your paltry efforts to stop me." "I don't think so!" Jupiter spun around, electricity crackling from head to foot. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" The multiple sphere shot out, exploding upon contact with Fury, who simply sputtered forth sparks and more of her "blood", splashing the senshi with her inner workings. They were all noticeably appalled. "We've got to end this, and fast." Mars pulled back her attack once again, letting it fly into the head of Fury, causing it to explode into pieces. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" As it blew apart, it flung more seemingly organic materials on the senshi, who cringed at its contact. Each began to shake it off in her or his own way, staring at the smoking shell that had once so formidably challenged them. "That was disgusting," commented Venus, flicking bits of wire and oils off of her gloves. "I can't believe that was an android." "I don't believe it entirely..." Borealis stared at the charred remains. "It can't be that easy." "You think that was easy?" Sailormoon stared in amazement at him. "We almost got killed!" "True...but if the Fury I know had wanted us dead, we'd be dead by now." He ran a hand idly through his shimmering hair. "She wouldn't have waited this long..." "That worries me." Mercury looked up at the sky, where dark energy was crackling incessantly. "What worries me more is the fact that her energy nexus still hasn't disappeared...when Midnight was transformed, the nexus he created gradually faded..." "So she must be around here somewhere, waiting..." Tuxedo Mask scanned the immediate area. "I don't see a thing." Borealis nodded. "She may not strike immediately. She's been known to..." A massive explosion knocked him and the others off their feet, rocking the entire area with the shock wave. They all quickly returned to standing position, muscles tensed and ready, as their focus centered on the source: the fallen remains of Fury. Somehow it had begun to reintegrate itself, drawing on the surrounding rubble, forming a new, makeshift Fury out of what was left for it to siphon. The skeletal face curled into a gradual smile as it gained a sort of skin, only made of dirt and rock, an arrogant sneer that taunted the senshi with its undying presence. "You do underestimate me, sailor senshi...but then, you always did. You see, I am the same Fury that you knew, Borealis...and I'm also the very same Fury that destroyed your precious capital." "That...was you?" Borealis glared at her, tensing. "I thought it was just the Eternal Night moving together..." "No. It was my hand that destroyed your precious capital. All those lives were claimed by me." Her sickening smile stretched out farther, until it was beyond the normal scope of human capability and grotesquely mocking. "The Great One naturally lauded me...and I was given immortality through this beautiful body...graceful and destructive, the destroying angel of darkness. Prepare to die!" Fury raised both of her hands at them, the new one made largely of stone and rubble, but both crackling with the same destructive dark energy that had so threatened the group before. Borealis and Tuxedo Mask prepared to defend Sailor Moon with an offense, and the other senshi formed bodily shields around her for any possible attack. "VELVET DARKNESS!" The mechanoid's power exploded from her hands, crashing through the air... "If you think it's that easy, think again." A serene yet powerful, melodious voice cut straight through the din; it was soon followed by the explosive battle cry of: "SUBMARINE REFLECTION!!!" The sea's energy poured out of the sparkling mirror of the aqua- haired Sailorneptune, destroyed the net of darkness that had spread from Fury's attack. "Called forth by the new age...I am known as Sailorneptune, elegant and gracious." Fury screamed, insane with anger. "NO!!! None can defeat my power!" Once again she prepared to lash out, her hands sparkling with black energy. She lifted it high above her head in preparation for attack... "SPACE SWORD BLAST!" At once, Neptune's partner, the blond-haired, strong Sailoruranus leaped through the air with her shimmering energy sword and sliced through Fury's form, utterly destroying the creature by cutting her to pieces. Mars gasped. "The vision!" All of the others instantly understood; Mars had not foreseen the death of one of their own, but instead she had witnessed, through her foresight, the final destruction of Fury by Sailoruranus. However, there was something missing, and she could not understand what it could be. "I don't like this...something isn't quite right here..." Mars approached the rubble that was flashing, incinerating through Uranus's vicious assault. "There has to be something else. Something that makes this more than just her death. I feel it...that's why I had that vision." "What do you mean, Mars?" Sailormoon looked over at the two outer senshi that had suddenly appeared. "Is there something more? Is someone else going to die too?" "I don't know..." She seemed wracked with confusion. "I just don't know. The fire has never been this ambiguous before...my visions are usually more clear, I have more of a feeling of certainty...These visions feel like I'm being fed them. As if someone's controlling me...I hate it!" At once, the ground was torn out from under them, moving in waves of dirt and grass. All assembled were prepared and leapt through the air, landing on their feet to face whatever new threat had presented itself. Shimmering before them was the form of a new foe, one that was shrouded in darkness. It appeared male, but with the bulky and elaborate armor it wore, there could be no certainty. Dark eyes flashed out from within a column of total blackness, and the figure drew a huge sword, holding it aloft and then plunging it into the soft ground, sending black bolts shooting through the air. "Is there no end to these creatures?" Borealis slipped through the figure's electric web and extended his open palm. "BOREALIS BOLT!" The attack was merely shrugged off, and the senshi of light found himself hurtling quickly in the opposite direction, meeting a large mound of rubble with a muffled groan. The assault was far from finished, however, as Uranus reached above her, grasping the golden sphere of energy that appeared there and then smashed it into the ground. "WORLD...SHAKING!!!" Her partner quickly joined in, spinning around, as tides crashed around her; she projected forth an equally formidable globe of energy, this one aquatic. "DEEP SUBMERGE!!!" Their powerful assault did as much good as their predecessor's, and they soon were flung their separate ways as well, landing far from the battle arena. At last, the battle was down to the inner senshi and their princess, the beautiful Sailormoon. "We can't let it destroy this city. There has been more than enough destruction for one day...I cannot allow it to go on!" Sailormoon's eyes shone with a passion long unseen in them, and she reached up for her staff, grasping it instantly as it flowed down into her grasp. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" She spun around, and energy coursed up her staff, culminating in the appearance of the familiar two opposite crescent moons which shot out at the figure, crashing and forming into a sphere when they at last met again at their destination. Then the image seemed to ripple like a serene pond disturbed by a single drop...dissipating, along with the figure and the column. "It's gone...!" Venus stared over at it. Mercury quickly produced her pocket computer and began to make a survey of the area, while Jupiter saw to Uranus and Neptune, and Mars went to make sure that Borealis was relatively unharmed. In an instant, Mercury was through with her calculations. "I can't detect any more of the same energy patterns...apparently it's gone, whatever it was." Sailormoon stared up at the sky again, wondering if possibly it had been the true leader of the Eternal Night, gauging his chances on Earth against the senshi. Had they succeeded, or had they failed? She was chilled by the possibility of the latter...quickly she resolved not to allow the Eternal Night to take any more planets...no matter what the price she would have to pay. 

In the orbiting sphere of darkness suspended delicately above the blue-green sphere of Earth, the figure returned to its former shape and seated itself in the ominous throne, wired to the ship itself by techno- organic webs. "Scorpion...report." It spoke at last, and as it did, another figure appeared as mysteriously, out of the same black column. The woman walked up and knelt before the throne, a smirk on her face. Dressed in a sparkling bronze leotard with matching gloves and boots, and a black all-covering bodysuit under that, she was eminently striking. Around her waist was a bulky-looking belt that held a number of gadgets and treasures of hers, and around her neck was a choker upon which was suspended a pitch-black onyx. "Yes, your majesty...I am here to serve you." Her expression seemed hardly to defer to the figure, but she did pay it some respect. "How was your little...excursion?" "The time has come." The darkness from the throne had shed its form to blend into the blackness from which it came. "They are no longer strong enough to stop the Eternal Night. Now, we will at last have the Princess of the Moon in our hands, and when that is done, we will plunge it...and the Earth...into eternal eclipse. The planetary guardians will have no power to stop us." Scorpion nodded. "I see. So I am to do what exactly?" "Go to planet Earth, and find the Moon Princess. When you have done that, form a plan and she will be ours. You must not fail." "I won't." The golden-haired woman turned and headed back to the column. "By your leave, majesty..." She did not wait for the voice but instead stepped in and was gone. As she faded, the disembodied voice from the darkness began to laugh maniacally... 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The golden-haired woman in bronze leotard, matching gloves and boots, and black bodysuit, materialized behind a large department store and smirked. As Scorpion, she was among the finest of the Eternal Night's warriors, and she was totally confident that she would not fail in her task: the abduction of the Moon Princess...after which the Earth, and also the universe, would be plunged into eternal eclipse.*** 

The sting of Scorpion! Search for the Moon Princess. 

"I'm glad you're not an android as well." Borealis smiled warmly at Kage, kissing him again. "Do you recall any other warriors of the Eternal Night being transformed into metal fighters?" The black-haired man shook his head. "None at all. In fact, I had no idea that Fury was actually one until you told me." He sighed. "I feel almost...responsible for what damage you incurred during that fight. Are you sure you're okay?" Kari chuckled and rested his head on the other man's chest. "Of course I'm all right. It takes more than that to beat Sailorborealis..." His expression went serious. "I am a little bit worried about that figure that appeared at the end of the fight, though...was it...?" Kage nodded. "I think so. And I would be willing to bet that there's something more going on behind the scenes than we know." "I'm willing to bet you're right." The iridescent- haired man rose from his seat on the sofa and wandered towards the view of the starry night out his French windows. "Oh, Kage, look! A shooting star...!" The other man rose quickly and joined his mate, wrapping his arm around his mate's shoulder and smiling. "What did you wish?" Kari chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. "Silly. I've already got my wish." 

Usagi and the others sat in the cafe, sipping their teas and sodas, pensive and overall silent, lost in their own somber thoughts of the possible implications of the new strategy by the Eternal Night. Minako was the first to speak. "We've got to be at our most alert now...if the they strike again, then they're going to try and harm Sailormoon somehow, I just know it." "I agree." Rei stirred her green tea and looked up at the others. "We're going to have to devise some sort of plan to protect her, at all times. There can't be any danger of her being victimized by those Eternal Night creeps at all!" Makoto nodded. "I guess the same plan we used against Galaxia would work...?" "We need more than that if we're to protect her," protested Ami, who sipped at her lemonade thoughtfully. "It was not totally successful against the Anima Mates, and it may not be against our current foe. After all, they're a great deal more powerful than any other enemies we've faced so far." "Good point..." Minako looked over at her princess. "What do you think, Usagi?" The girl with odango was at first hesitant to speak, absorbed in thought as she stared deep into her soda. "I think that whatever you decide is fine." "Eh?" Rei looked up. "Are you feeling all right?" Usagi nodded. "I'm just a little tired. I think that last battle took a lot out of me...I think I need to be getting home to rest a little bit." She rose and smiled reassuringly at the others. "I'll see you all later, I'm sure! I'll stop by the temple tomorrow before school." Minako looked at her, concerned. "Usagi...be careful..." "I will be." The other blonde smiled and waved, heading out of the cafe with only another casual farewell as she stepped onto the sidewalk outside. The others sat back in their corner booth, surprised at their leader's reaction. "That was...really strange." Makoto put her hands behind her head and reclined in the well-cushioned seat. "I don't know what's gotten into her." "Maybe it really is just stress." Ami finished her drink and sighed. "I know I've been feeling tired too, lately, especially after all of those frequent attacks by Fury and her servants." "But now that's over...Tuxedo Mask is back and we haven't heard anything from the Eternal Night for over a week now, she shouldn't be worried." Rei sighed and sipped the last out of her glass. "I think we need to do something right now, for her own good." Minako nodded. "How about we organize shifts? It's like what we did with Galaxia, but I also want to ask some others for help. We can protect her totally this way..." 

As the sun crept over the horizon line, Usagi jumped out of bed, alarmed. Now she couldn't stop by the temple without being late again! She would have to go straight to school and let them down...oh well, she thought, I'll see them soon enough anyway. There's nothing to worry about. She quickly bathed and dressed, then was out her front door, where, to her surprise, a sleek-looking yellow convertible was waiting, along with two very familiar visitors. "Haruka! Michiru!" Usagi smiled as they came into her view. "What are you doing here?" The aqua-haired woman smiled pleasantly. "Your friends thought you might be late, so they asked us to help you get to the temple...and school...on time. Since both Haruka and I work at your school anyway, I thought we'd give you a ride!" Usagi cheered, and Haruka chuckled, climbing into the driver's seat. The other two quickly stepped into the car, and at once they were off. From the back seat, the princess finally spoke when they had gone half way. "Haruka...Michiru...are you sure that's why you did this?" The driver smirked. "One of the reasons." "Ah..." Michiru turned around to face Usagi, or at least as much as she could with her seat belt fastened. "We're almost there, so be sure to get your things ready. Of course, if you leave anything at all, Haruka and I will return it to you as soon as we see you at school." Usagi nodded and gathered her books and satchel, then looked up at the Hino temple as it drew closer. Haruka's swift driving brought them there in almost no time at all, and the car came to a stop right across from the huge stairway up to the temple itself. Haruka waved at her. "Be good." "See you at school!" Michiru called, smiling and waving as well as the convertible streaked away, into the distance. The younger girl then looked up at the temple that no doubt held all of her friends before their busy school day. She flung her satchel over her shoulder and made her way up the steep stairs that led to the main entrance, thinking about the most recent events in her life. It was strange to her that Haruka and Michiru just showed up like that...apparently there was something going on, and it was being kept from her. She did not like that, but she knew it was from people who thought it best for her. She smiled inwardly as she considered who was behind it. Minako? Rei? One or the other was certainly the one. She jogged around the back of the temple to find her four best friends seated around Rei's table. "Usagi!" Ami called out, smiling pleasantly as she leafed through her science textbook. "I'm glad you made it!" "I didn't think you'd make it...did you wake up late again?" Minako grinned from her seat, doodling on a piece of paper as Artemis critiqued the drawing from her shoulder. "Yes, but Haruka and Michiru gave me a ride here..." She looked down at the drawing. "That's really good, Mina!" "Thanks!" She handed it to Usagi. "You can have it...I was just scribbling before class. I like to do that to relieve stress sometimes..." Usagi smiled. "Thanks!" She then glanced over at Rei, who was apparently absorbed in stacks of paperwork; she was clicking an abacus like there was no tomorrow, and her hand was writing as fast as any typewriter could print, thought Usagi. "Rei? What are you working on?" Instantly the priestess smiled and shoved the papers under the table, chuckling. "Oh, nothing...just an extra credit research paper...my school's really big on that..." "...oh..." Usagi looked around. "Is there something going on here? I feel like you're all keeping a secret from me." Makoto looked up. "Usagi...we're just trying to protect you. We didn't think you'd mind if you weren't really told about it...we're just going to protect you as much as we can, but we won't interfere with your life, we promise!" "Yes!" Minako nodded. "We won't interfere!" The others nodded in agreement, and Usagi laughed happily. "I'm so glad I have friends like you...!" 

Scorpion transformed into a modest-looking woman dressed in regular clothes of a burnt orange color and prepared the files at her side. She spied another woman walking by and stepped out in front of her, smiling. "Hello there...are you a teacher at this school?" "Why yes, I am!" The woman grinned, a bit nervously. "Are you a new teacher, or a substitute?" Scorpion laughed. "I'm a substitute, for your class." "My class?" The woman was perplexed. "But I'm perfectly fine..." The servant of the Eternal Night laughed again, extending her hand toward the woman, snapping her fingers crisply; with that sound, a copper flash of energy exploded out from the villain's hand and struck the woman's neck, and she slumped to the ground. "Scorpion's sting should take care of you. You won't be getting up for at least a day, and by then I'll have located the Moon Princess and claimed her for the Eternal Night!" 

Usagi walked to class, content but still slightly disturbed by the mysterious actions of the others earlier in the morning. She had been confident that she had seen Minako no less than eight times following her in the halls, and Makoto had just "happened to be in the same place as her" over ten times. It was pushing the envelope of non-interference that they had promised. At least, Usagi thought, they didn't involve Setsuna and Hotaru. At that exact moment, Usagi crashed into a tall woman, and both of them were knocked to the ground. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" Usagi blushed and leaped to her feet to help the other woman up. At first she thought it was Setsuna, but it was not; the woman's hair and face were different, although they were almost the same height. The woman had long, flowing bronze hair and wore an outfit that seemed to slightly set off her appearance. "Don't worry about it." It was apparently an effort for the other woman to be kind. "Aren't you supposed to be in class now, young lady?" Usagi sweatdropped and smiled. "I'm going on an errand for Mr. Maraza." The woman seemed to regard her with doubt, then nodded slowly. "All right then." She smiled, and it looked like it was taking every muscle in her body to make it look genuine; Usagi stifled a shudder. "Be on your way." The blonde girl did, hurrying away from the strange, disturbing new arrival. Scorpion grumbled to herself as she headed away from the crash site, collecting her papers and certain they were all in order. "With idiots like that standing in my way, how on Earth am I going to find the Moon Princess?" As she continued down the hall, she beheld a sight that seemed to be sheer perfection to her. She knew this was her goal as the golden-haired, stunningly beautiful Minako Aino walked through a sunbeam down the hall and seemed to glitter with every step she took. This had to be the Moon Princess. A sight that perfect, that graceful, could not belong to any other. Copper clothes flashed off as Scorpion's true form was revealed, in her usual metallic raiment, and she laughed chillingly as she extended her hand and snapped again; Minako was taken totally by surprise and, as the sting ripped at her neck, she collapsed, totally unconscious. There was no one else around, and the evil woman knelt over her prey, placing a single black disk on her back. She pressed a button implanted within her outfit, and instantly the two were gone, as if they had never existed. 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***Minako was tossed into a cell, and she made very little sound or motion at all as she rolled over on the small bunk that was within the room; Scorpion's sting had done its work well, and she would be completely out for another few hours.*** 

Daring rescue of Sailorvenus! The hour of Borealis. 

"I don't know what could have happened to her...!" Rei was frantic, pacing and constantly sighing, throwing her hands up in the air. "I told her to meet us after every class. Nobody's seen her since earlier today, just before lunch..." Ami typed on her keyboard. "According to this, she isn't on Earth." Makoto looked over at her. "Didn't that say the same thing about Mamoru? Isn't it possible for her to mask her power signature?" The blue-haired genius shook her head. "It is, but somehow I don't think she would have any reason to do so. After all, only my computer is attuned to pick it up so specifically." "It's failed before, though." The brown-haired girl leaned against a tree near the little room at the back of the temple. "I just want to know for sure before I go rampaging out again." "We can't take that chance." Rei put her hands on her hips defensively. "Minako could be hurt or worse if we don't do something, and now!" Ami nodded. "Mako, she is right. We have to move at once, and we must do it quickly." "That's right." All eyes turned toward the source of the voice. "Who are you?" Rei tensed, preparing a scroll should the unknown intruder prove himself to be hostile. He simply chuckled. "What, don't you recognize me?" With that, he thrust his arm into the air. "Aurora Planet Power, Make Up!" A spiral of power spinned out from the palm of his hand with a blinding light and sparkling glitter, covering the man's body and levitating him, clothing him with the adapted fuku that marked him as, obviously, the senshi of light. "Sailorborealis...made up!" He grinned and posed briefly, chuckling warmly. "Ah...!" Ami smiled. "You've come to help?" "Of course." Borealis stepped around to the walkway where the girl with the computer was seated and sat down beside her, looking onto the small screen. "There's no sign of her at all?" "None." He nodded. "Then I know where she is." Every eye was on him at that moment, and he continued. "She must be the prisoner of the Eternal Night. There's no other option." Makoto clenched her fist and pounded it into her other hand. "That's it! We've got to get her back!" Borealis held up a hand quickly. "But you've got to protect Usagi...if you don't, they might find their mistake and attack her instead." "Mistake?" Rei approached carefully. "What do you mean?" Another strange voice called from the other side of the courtyard, and a dark figure stepped into view, clad in a black outfit with a cloak. "The Eternal Night needs power...and they seek to obliterate the light from the universe. What better way than with the Moon Princess?" "Midnight!" Makoto called out, grinning a little. "Thanks for the save last time!" The tall, dark-featured man blushed and nodded. "It was nothing." Borealis chuckled and covered the distance between Ami's seat and his lover in an instant, grinning and slipping behind Midnight and wrapping his arms around the other man's shoulders. "He's nothing if not modest." The senshi of light affectionately kissed the other man's neck, then smiled at the others. "In any case...I ask for your patience. I will go to the Eternal Night...infiltrate them...and in return you will have Midnight here to make up for your deficiency caused by Venus's absence." Rei was silent for a moment, considering his offer. The others were obviously not opposed to it, but they were waiting on her consent, as she tended to take command with her instinctive leadership skills and assertive personality. They did not want to oppose her unless it was absolutely necessary. "...all right." She seemed a bit begrudging, but she had granted her permission. "Just know that you've got two days. If you're not back by Friday, we're coming after you." Borealis nodded. "Fair enough. I shouldn't need even that long." "Be careful..." Rei actually smiled a little bit, "and good luck." He winked at her and waved at them all. With that, he was gone in a brilliant flash of light. 

Scorpion was lounging in her throne, her face lit with sheer joy over her successful and brief mission. Not one single thing had gone wrong, not a single thread of opposition had sprung up, not even those accursed senshi that were constantly interfering with the plans of the Eternal Night. They had claimed the others, but she was above that sort of petty power struggled. Now she was supreme. "You're not going to last forever, you know." She tensed and sat up in the huge chair, glaring towards the source of the voice. At once, she recognized him: it was the other servant of the Night, Moonshroud. The man was tall, dark, and deadly, wearing a totally black bodysuit with silver crystals around his shoulders and down his chest, then circling his waist like a belt. "What are you talking about...what are you doing in my private chamber?" He smirked. "Things just don't go that easily, my dear little insect. Think again if you think you're not going to get opposition... prepare for battle." "Is that a threat?" She smirked, the energy around her hands crackling. "If so, I'll hold you to it." "It's a threat," he answered, "but not from me." At that, he vanished, leaving her to puzzle exactly where the menace was coming from. Her mind flashed back and forth; who else was there? None of the senshi had attacked her on Earth, so it had to be some other servant of the Eternal Night. That was it. She would have to make certain that nobody on the Eternal Night's command was intent on usurping her power. 

Moonshroud laughed to himself in his small, black-curtained room as he stared into the white flame shimmering wavelike out of the single torch in the middle of the room. He smirked and manipulated the fire to show him the other most essential rooms on the craft, and he observed silently as Sailorborealis arrived upon the ship, reforming as the senshi of light with little effort. "Ah...Scorpion, you little idiot. While you're busy tearing us apart, this Auroran will be away with the Moon Princess...if that's really her." He scratched his throat absently. "Which I doubt. But we won't need her, regardless...there's nothing more to get in the way of my plans, at least." Upon his touch, the flame died instantly, sparking out and leaving only the crystals to clink faintly and sparkle the last life of the now-dead fire. Soon even that was gone, and the officer was left in utter silence and darkness. 

Inside the strange airlock, Sailorborealis looked around. He had used a great deal of energy to get to the ship, and now that he was there, he felt the memories of long ago seeping back into his mind. All the pain, the suffering, and the destruction flashed before his eyes, especially the capital's immense explosion and the tragedy in it...no one else could understand how it felt...except perhaps Kage. Kage. He sighed. The Night had almost taken him away too. It was time for something to happen; Borealis knew exactly what he would have to do when the time came, and he steeled his resolve, heading into the ship and the darkness, his light dimmed so as not to draw attention. He crept stealthily among the corridors, dodging random patrols and sliding into rooms and out of them just as quickly, his mind working at dizzying speeds to remember the layout of the strange and terrible dark destroyer that hung suspended above the jewel Earth like a looming death sentence. His eyes flitted around the rooms, the endless corridors painted black with the blood of thousands who suffered under the merciless hands of the inhumans that ruled the activities on the ship. He sailed down a ladder to a deeper level, and deeper, and deeper still, until he at last found himself in the holding pens. There were naturally no guards...no, the real test would be the darkness field around the chambers, that only those who bore the key of the Eternal Night could pass. That would be the greatest challenge to him. He peered around, scanning the names that were on the keypads to the cells...there was nobody else at all inside the ship...he came to the end of the rows and at last, there was Minako, the brave senshi of the planet Venus, unconscious and relatively unharmed, untouched by the true cruelty of their foe. Borealis meditated, remembering what his mate had told him, and quickly punched in a code on the door. For a moment, there was only a tense sort of silence, but then at last, the field vanished, giving him full ingress to the chamber. He rushed to Minako's side, making sure that she was in good health, and he increased his glow slightly to awaken her. "Minako...? Mina...? Are you all right? It's me, Borealis..." Her eyelids fluttered and in her eyes recognition dawned. "It's you! You've come to rescue me!" She flung her arms around his neck to greet him, and naturally he blushed at the whole situation. "We have to get out of here quickly." He picked her up in his arms and started out of the cell, into the corridor, only to stop in his tracks when his eyes met with those of the leader of a squad of five guards, all armed to the teeth. "You're not going anywhere." "I beg to differ." Borealis gently set Minako down, bidding her to return to the cell, and he extended an arm before him. "BOREALIS... BOLT!!!" The energy flashed from his hand and exploded down the corridor, knocking two of the combatants out of the fight, but the other three were on him as quickly as he had moved, with their blasters trained on him. As one prepared to fire, he met with a streaming sphere of light and was smashed into the wall. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" The others tried to move to stop the new foe, but they were far too slow. "VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!!!" Before their unconscious bodies hit the ground, the two senshi were off and running, Borealis leading the way, back up to the airlock where escape awaited them. 

Moonshroud stared in the darkness at the rippling light underneath his hands, illuminated once again. He smirked, wondering where Scorpion was in her plan to eliminate all opposition...idly he remembered that she had lost, either way, since now her "Moon Princess" had been revealed to simply be another senshi, and was liberated in any case. Still, he could not let the two escape and possibly sabotage their operations... He vanished...and the rippling went with him. 

Borealis activated the final lock on the door and just as he had began to form a light sphere around Venus, electric bolts of darkness flashed through the room, hitting both of them, knocking them to their knees in surprise. "What...what's that?" Venus glared up at the source of the bolts, seeing the strange Eternal Night general known as Moonshroud stepping from the shadows with a callous grin on his face. "I am Moonshroud...and the last thing you will ever see." He noticed Borealis moving out of the corner of his eye. "I wouldn't if I were you, Auroran. Any attack now that you can do would puncture this airlock in a second, and would no doubt kill your comrade here in this incomplete light sphere." The male senshi sighed and stood down, simply glaring at the new foe that had come so unexpectedly. He yelled inwardly, blaming himself for ever thinking that an operation against the Night could go so smoothly, without a hitch at all. He noticed the sparkle in Moonshroud's eye, the same as his own Kage's... "But mine won't!" Suddenly Venus moved. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!!" She hurled her attack at the man, who was gone in an instant and appeared behind her, grasping her neck cruelly. "That," he intoned, "was a mistake." "That's it!!!" Borealis screamed. "AURORA VARIATION!!!" 

Ami looked up with the others. "Apparently something happened to the ship, because this debris shower has only recently started." "Do you think they're all right?" Rei wrung her hands in worried anticipation, tense at the thought that Borealis could have failed. Makoto nodded. "They've got to be. I believe in them. Even if Sailorborealis messes up, Venus is more than capable of handling herself." Kage walked out of the shadows behind the shrine and sighed. "I have heard that an airlock was destroyed on that ship..." The three girls turned quickly. "What?" "Through the fading link that I share with all members of the Eternal Night, I've heard that an airlock, containing three people, was destroyed earlier tonight. They've only retrieved one body, one of their own people, and the other two..." "The other two are safe and sound!" The voice from behind him made Kage turn around, and when he saw the two senshi standing there, he could not help himself, and ran forth. Borealis hugged him, and then Venus joined in with the two of them, looking out at the others. "Hi everyone. We made it." "What happened up there?" Ami gestured towards the debris shower. "Midnight said that the airlock was destroyed...were you in it?" The male senshi nodded. "Yes...that was my doing. We were about to be executed by a warrior called Moonshroud, but when I did my Aurora Variation, it not only stopped him from killing Venus..." "But it also completed my light sphere," she finished, smiling. "And after that, it was just a few seconds back here." "Thank goodness!" Rei sighed, relieved. "I had thought..." "How's Usagi?" Borealis stepped forward, along with Venus and Kage, rejoining the group. "I hope she's been all right...I have been worried about her." Makoto nodded. "Don't worry, we've got it under control. There haven't been any more creatures rampaging around the city, so everything has pretty much been quiet since you've been gone, thankfully." The auburn-haired man turned toward the sparkling shower on the city and his eyes glinted with the glow of the spectacle. "I think they are about to get a good deal louder...I have a feeling that the Eternal Night is about to make their final strike." 

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON B 

***The black sphere hung over the Earth like a death sentence, silent and unmoving, the only light coming from the repairs being done on the outer shell. It seemed to flicker, and then it was unmistakable; the craft was advancing towards the atmosphere of Earth.*** 

Final descent! The battle for Earth. 

Sailormoon, sparkling in the moonlight, her beautiful blonde hair blowing in the furious wind that had rushed from the north, gazed determinedly to the sky. There was something about to happen, something definitely coming, and she had to be there to confront it and stop it. At last, she would act. She grasped the strangely- powered rod in front of her and silently whispered the names of her guardians, the senshi who were standing at her side for the assault. In the front, around her immediately, stood her closest friends who had long fought alongside her, her most intimate guard, the inner senshi, and somewhat aloof from them, slightly removed from the whole assembly, were the four known as the outer senshi, standing as if expecting a completely different assault from the earth itself. And, still more removed from them, were the two figures who had come from the outside realms of this universe, now...Sailorborealis and his mate, Midnight. Shimmering feathers extended from the Moon Princess's back and formed into wings, her outfit falling away to reveal a silky, silvery gown that billowed in the immense winds that were blowing up from seemingly out of nowhere. Dark rays blasted from out of the sky, and over Tokyo, a hush settled, the people stopping in their tracks to stare up at the sky, speechless and wide-eyed, at the strange new threat from space that was invading. The company of senshi gathered in a circle around Sailormoon, joining hands and staring upward, towards the descending black sphere, and each said his or her power phrase and began to glow with a magickal aura that illuminated the shadow being cast on the land. In a flash, they were all gone, the sailor teleport having been invoked. The sphere stopped, stock still for the moment, hanging only a short distance above the city's tallest buildings. It was in the final stages, and the outside began to transform, the black plates hovering, removed from the inner body of the craft and beginning to pulse with a life of their own... 

The darkness on the throne of black finally rose, its eyes flickering into scarlet fire. It was more of a presence than an entity in and of itself, and so it made itself known and fused into a suit of armor. Its face became as human, and it appeared like sculpted onyx would, cold and hard. It gazed out and down into Tokyo...at last, its plans were coming into reality...there was little more to do than to gather the last remaining shards of light...and then crush them like the debris they were. They had to be prevented from cluttering the universe with unnecessary illumination. Only then could the gorgeous forces of the night truly reach their real potential. Absently it turned to one of the surveillance cameras that was trained on an outside corridor. One group of the senshi...the inner ones...were fighting their way along, causing massive destruction to the ship's inner systems. The other, the outers, was gracefully battling and blowing out rooms full of troops. And it felt that there was another presence in the ship, one that defied description and that defied location...one of its own, perhaps? Or maybe... It pressed a single button, and instantly the sphere closed up again from the outside. If they were inside, they would remain inside. They would not escape, even if the eternal night did not come. It was determined...no, he was determined...that the battle would be the very final, decisive battle for control of the universe. 

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" The troops of the Eternal Night vanished into nothingness as the group of senshi made its way down the seemingly endless corridors surrounding the great inner sanctum of the great darkness. They had overcome all kinds of foes to get here, and now that they had arrived, there was no way they would fail now. Sailormoon rushed ahead, her scepter of light illuminating and destroying the shadows that loomed across the way. There was no more opposition in her way, nothing to stop her. All of those came from behind, like cowards, with their automatic weapons of destruction trained on the senshi, attempting to ward them off like some sort of simple soldiers. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" The five senshi hurried on. 

Pluto flung four troops away with her staff, and Uranus cut through the resistance with her sword. Saturn fought as a combination of Uranus and Pluto with her glaive, effortlessly pushing back the numerous foes that dared to come close. Neptune used her Tidal Punch to smash the followers who would attack from behind, back to where they came from, and the four stood, back to back to back. "We're never going to make it to the center, you know." Uranus chuckled to herself. "We haven't made any progress." "We do not have to." Pluto smashed another troop away. "All we need to is allow Sailormoon and Sailorborealis to reach the throne room, and then all is won." Neptune nodded. "That's right...we'll do our duty. SUBMARINE REFLECTION!!!" Uranus slashed through another advancing throng of guards. "I think that is all we need to do right now..." 

Borealis and Midnight, under the cover of the latter's darkness, crawled through the ducts inside the ship, silently. They were close together, even moreso than usual, and this nearness made the cramped quarters seem tolerable. However, it was a tense moment, and Midnight's memory was being tested to the extreme...there was little chance for error, and if any arose, it might spell doom for the two fighters and their allies as well...everything had to be done perfectly, with perfect timing and precision. The ducts seemingly were endless as the corridors had previously been, and in time the two were sweating profusely, a cold sweat of slight claustrophobia mixed with anxiety about the outcome of the battle and the welfare of their friends. At last, the needed exit duct came up and Midnight threw off the cover quickly and slid down into the room, followed by his lover. The two looked around silently, not daring to make a noise to try and keep up their secrecy as long as possible. The door slid open for Midnight, then the two slipped out into the innermost corridors and began to run towards the central chambers. 

Sailormoon touched the sealed door with her scepter. "SPINNING MOON REFLECTION!" At once, her form began to shimmer just as the effect of the attack took place, but this time it was different from every other. The angelic princess began to shine through, as if the fleshy body was only a shell. She smiled...she was still the one they knew as Sailormoon... but now she appeared more as the one who would save them from the night, the light that always sparkles in the darkness, on the edge of your sight, to make you feel better and not so alone. Her hair trailed behind her, and her eyes sparkled in time with her rod as she tapped the door again, and it crumbled away, completely unable to stand up to her radiant brilliance. She stepped in, the other four senshi close behind, and she smiled as she saw the armor before her...the Eternal Night's final challenge...their greatest foe, the strongest of the forces of darkness. He advanced...the darkness around him fading as if he were made of several images, each slowly advanced as he walked...and his blank, fiery-red eyes stared out at the senshi. At last, his dead, hollow voice rang out through the room. "Light...so you have come, Moon Princess." He raised his hand, palm outward, and from it issued a series of dark bolts, flashing towards the senshi and striking them, but just as quickly as the assault had begun, it was stopped by Sailormoon, lifting her scepter, and a shield of white light flashed around the group. Their foe stood, silent and unmoving, staring at them, and Jupiter picked herself up from the floor shakily. "Sailormoon...what is the battle plan?" The princess looked back at the other senshi. "Wait for a little while...I think I'm beginning to understand..." 

The outer senshi made slow but steady progress down the huge corridors, each filled with dozens of the enemy's troops. Uranus sliced steadily through each wave with her space sword, gritting her teeth. "It's as if they knew we were the more powerful ones and sent the huge amounts of guards after us." She slashed again, off to the side to free it up. "Thank goodness we weren't the ones trying to get to the center." "We should try and help Sailormoon if we can get there." Pluto defended with her staff again. "She will have need of power when she finally confronts the Eternal Night once and for all." "We'll see." Uranus kicked at the oncoming creatures and slid into the advancing shadows. "WORLD SHAKING!!!" 

Midnight began to enter in a code at the panel while Borealis peered into the corridor. The ship itself quaked from time to time, and explosions lit up the dark environment...smoke rose through the air and caused wide confusion. "Looks like the outer senshi are doing well..." Borealis commented from his vantage point. "How's the weapons system coming, my dear?" The other man shook his head. "It's difficult to say. I don't think I can get it fully offline with the new security measures they've implemented...the best I can do might only be to curb the damage." "It's better than nothing." The senshi of light ducked back into the room. "Besides, we're going to have to help the Moon Princess soon...she's going to need it, power of ages or no." Midnight nodded and kept working. 

The sparkling rays flashed around the jewel on Sailormoon's rod, and they blew the top off of the room, revealing a completely black dome above them. Flashes of black energy coarsed upon it, into the center, and instantly all the senshi knew what she had revealed. "The greatest weapon..." Venus began. Jupiter gasped. "...of the Eternal Night..." Sailormoon glared up at it and saw that it was indeed what they had said. Within its strange depths she could see how it would be able to charge up and then deal massive destruction, eliminating all light from the universe...all stars would become dark stars, all lights would become equal measures of darkness, and while silent and peaceful on the outside, within she knew there would be a fire waiting to emerge. "You can't do this!" Sailormoon stepped forward, outside of the shield she had made. "This isn't right." "You question the Eternal Night." The voice was so chilling in its factual, calculating nature. "We will have the darkness to make your universe silent." "Silence isn't right either...some say that we shouldn't speak unless spoken to, and maybe that's right, but this whole universe is full of a voice that's all its own. In everything, there is life, and everything has a say! Everything has a voice! To shut it off, to relegate it to the darkness that you hold so dear, well, I can't agree with that." She stood strong, her friends behind her emerging from the shield to stand along with her, each gazing up at her, admiring her courage. "Darkness may have a voice too, but it can't drown out the other ones. Everyone has a voice. Everyone should have a say. You can't just destroy all other voices and expect them to be quiet forever, because it won't work. It's a nice idea to have silence...but silence is at the expense of all the difference in the world, everything that makes life the special, dear gift that it is." Sailormoon clenched her fists and looked up again, tears flying from her face. "You cannot expect me to stand by while every viewpoint is silenced. I may not agree with all of them... but I will fight to the death for them to be able to be there." She lifted her scepter. "ULTIMATE MOON HEARTACHE!!!" The darkness stared at her...and his eyes widened, for once, showing an expression of awe and terror. Through the dome, there came a sparkling shower of filtered light...then the strange firmament cracked more and more, raining a shower of the dark material on the room. At last, the gap was filled by the light of the stunning full moon, shining endlessly through. The darkness glared, but Sailormoon would not be stopped. The rod she held began to sparkle like the moon, then began to radiate light as it never had before... The armor-clad entity draw a black sword and smacked it out of her hand, sending it clattering to the ground below, but just as he was about to deliver his death blow, a voice rang from the doorway. "BOREALIS BOLT!" He was blasted back into the throne, which blew apart under the impact of his weight. Sailorborealis and Midnight ran into the room, smiling. "Sailormoon...you can do it...I believe in you..." He handed her the scepter, which she took and again began to hold aloft, the light radiating outward from it. She smiled at the darkness. "Don't worry...you'll still exist...but your voice will no longer be at the expense of the others that exist around you. Darkness has its time and place, just like light has its as well..." With that, the light from her grew brighter and brighter, until at last it had consumed the whole room. Sailormoon and the other senshi began to hover above, toward the Moon itself, and their bodies shimmered like their princess... Even the outer senshi suddenly appeared, resplendent in their beautiful gowns that had magickally appeared with the huge assault on the great darkness that had threatened the Earth. The company of senshi, along with Midnight, rose in immaculate dress above the sphere and out of it. All present joined hands with Sailormoon in the center, and their power began to grow. "MERCURY STAR POWER!" "JUPITER STAR POWER!" "VENUS STAR POWER!" "MARS STAR POWER!" "URANUS PLANET POWER!" "NEPTUNE PLANET POWER!" "SATURN PLANET POWER!" "PLUTO PLANET POWER!" "AURORA PLANET POWER!" Midnight concentrated silently, his own symbol of power appearing on his forehead, and instantly the energy flowed into Sailormoon, all the colors of the spectrum flashing around her body. She pointed her scepter at the huge dark sphere. "MOON TIDAL POWER!!!" At last, the huge sparkling light of the Moon itself flashed from her rod and sailed into the sphere, breaking it asunder and into dust. It sparkled in the brilliant light above it, and the crowds that had gathered in the streets or looked out their windows cheered at the triumph of their hero, Sailormoon, and her friends. The princess looked around with a smile, fading back into her solid form as the Sailormoon that they know, and she still hovered there, among them all...and at once, they were all suddenly back on the ground, where they had begun, and each one felt a deep peace inside, as if oneness with all things had been achieved in one sudden motion. Sailormoon stood and smiled, a little drained from her battle. "We did it...we did it..." 

Usagi and her other four closest friends, along with the two cats, stood at the foot of the stairs to the Hino shrine. In front of it, Kage and Kari leaned on their car, saying their long goodbyes. "I wish you didn't have to go so suddenly...I feel like we have so much to catch up on." Usagi smiled and extended her hand, which Kari kissed, causing her to blush. "Anyway...please come back sometime. We could always use the help." "We will...in time." Kage smiled and nodded to the others and then got into the car and started the engine. "And thank you for everything...Sailormoon." Kari smiled at them and waved. "See you again, soon I hope..." He then climbed into the car himself and it drove off, the two mysterious men going out of their lives as quickly as they had entered. Usagi smiled and turned around. "Well, I guess we should get busy on studying, right?" They all stared. Rei stepped forward. "Are you okay, Usagi?" She chuckled. "Of course I am. I'm just kidding of course. Where's your manga collection...?" They all relaxed and smiled, watching her rush up the huge flight of stairs toward the shrine...relieved that things were back to the way they once were. Hopefully, they thought, there would be no more mysterious villains from outer space and they could once more lead the lives that they wished. There would always be the desire to fight again, but that would come in its own time...and when it did, they would be ready. 

Hotaru sat on a hill, watching the sunset with Setsuna. The two silently remained until the darkness truly fell, and then they lay back and looked up at the stars. "Setsuna-mama...why are so many afraid of the dark?" The older woman smiled a little bit and took in a deep breath of the clean summer air. "They fear themselves...and fear what they might find in it. Just like Sailormoon said...darkness has its place. But it's not its place to make everyone confront that, and it's not the darkness's duty to silence all others. Light can have the same effects as darkness...and people don't fear light." She closed her eyes. "I think it's what they have been taught. Some know, some do not...I have never feared the dark." Hotaru smiled and hugged Setsuna. "Thank you..." The woman patted the little girl on the head and opened her eyes again, gazing up a the beautiful night. 


End file.
